For those who’re a number of chapters right into a novel and forgot who a personality was, Amazon is hoping its new Kindle characteristic will jog your reminiscence with out ever having to place the e-reader down. This characteristic, referred to as Ask this Guide, was introduced throughout Amazon’s {hardware} occasion in September, however is lastly obtainable for US customers on the Kindle iOS app.
In line with Amazon, the characteristic can at the moment be discovered on hundreds of English best-selling Kindle titles and “solely reveals data as much as your present studying place” for spoiler-free responses. To make use of it, you possibly can spotlight a passage in any e-book you’ve got purchased or borrowed and ask it questions on plot, characters or different essential particulars, and the AI assistant will provide “speedy, contextual, spoiler-free data.” You may even have the ability to ask follow-up questions for extra element.
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Whereas Ask this Guide could also be useful to some Kindle readers, the characteristic touches on a serious level of competition with authors and publishers. In response to Publishers Lunch, a every day e-newsletter for the publishing trade, an Amazon spokesperson mentioned that, “To make sure a constant studying expertise, the characteristic is at all times on, and there’s no choice for authors or publishers to choose titles out.” Different AI firms are already going through lawsuits claiming copyright infringement. Most just lately, the New York Occasions and Chicago Tribune sued Perplexity, accusing the AI firm of utilizing its copyrighted works to coach its LLMs.
As for the Ask this Guide characteristic, Amazon is already planning to develop it past the iOS app and can introduce it to Kindle units and the Android OS app subsequent 12 months. Past this new characteristic, Amazon additionally launched Recaps to Kindle units and the iOS app for books in a sequence, which acts very similar to a TV present’s “Beforehand on” roundup in between seasons. Nonetheless, Amazon just lately needed to withdraw its AI-generated Video Recaps characteristic, so it is perhaps price double-checking the information you get from Recaps, too.