Editor's take: Amazon, like other Big Tech players riding the AI wave, is pushing chatbots and LLMs into as many products as possible. Even the Kindle app, designed for human-written content, is seeing experiments to show how AI can enhance the reading experience.
Amazon recently launched Ask This Book (ATB), a new feature available to Kindle iOS app users. The tool leverages AI and chatbot technology designed to enhance the reading experience without revealing key plot points – at least in theory.
Ask This Book answers questions about a title's plot, characters, and other details. Users interact with the feature like ChatGPT or other general-purpose chatbots, receiving information relevant to the pages they've read up to their current position.
The feature functions as a custom reading assistant, offering instant answers on character relationships, themes, and other details. It can provide guidance on content the reader has already covered, helping users navigate complex plots or recall specific information without flipping back through the book.
Some readers may prefer to avoid using ATB with familiar books, such as rereading Stephen King's IT or revisiting Lovecraft's Mythos stories. For these occasions, they might choose to experience the story uninterrupted, without leaning on AI guidance for context or already familiar plot details.
Amazon spokesman Ale Iraheta confirmed to the Verge that ATB generates answers that are "non-shareable and non-copyable," accessible only to customers who have purchased or rented the specific Kindle book. The feature is turned on by default, and authors or publishers cannot opt out of it.
Ask This Book is currently available in the US for "thousands" of English-language titles on the Kindle iOS app. Amazon plans to expand the feature to additional Kindle devices and Android next year, but the company has not announced support for international customers or other languages.
The feature offers a "Recaps" option, available on Kindle devices and the iOS app. Ask This Book summarizes storylines and character development in a series. Amazon recently retired a similar feature for TV shows after the AI hallucinated key details about Fallout.