By Shivani P Menon
Amazon introduces a new AI feature in the Kindle app, where users can ask questions related to the book that they are reading. The feature is called “Ask This Book”. The questions can be about a specific character in the book that the users are reading, plot details, or anything about the previous books that they have read from the app.
Currently, it is unclear how many books have this feature, but reports suggest that the feature has been enabled in thousands of books already. “Ask This Book” feature is currently available only in the iOS app, and by next year, it will be available on Android and Kindle devices.
Amazon claims that the answer given by the new AI feature is spoiler-free and would not provide any information on the content that they have not read. The main aim of this feature is to solve instant doubts that the users have while reading a book, or to jog their memory if they haven’t read for a long time.
This feature currently supports only English books in the U.S, and as of nowhere is no information on when this feature will be added to other languages.
Ale Iraheta, an Amazon spokesperson, said that all the answers given by “Ask This Book” are not shareable and the answers are available to users who have purchased or rented that particular book. This particular feature is always on.
The users who are using the iOS Kindle app can test this feature by clicking on the in-book menu, and then going to the feature “Ask This Book” and then highlight the passage in which they have a doubt. Ask a suggested question or the users own query, and in the same chat, further questions can also be asked.
With this feature, Amazon has bought AI-driven assistance right into the reading process. Kindle is now seen as an assistant to active reading.