The AI feature "Ask This Book" introduced at Amazon's hardware launch in September is now officially available on the Kindle iOS app in the United States, aiming to help users recall details from their books without putting down their e-reader.
Amazon stated that this feature is currently available on thousands of popular English Kindle e-books, and it guarantees **"only shows information before your current reading position"** to prevent spoilers.
Feature Highlights and Usage
The usage of "Ask This Book" is very simple: users can select a passage from a purchased or borrowed book, then ask the AI assistant questions about plot, characters, or other key details. The feature will provide "instant, context-relevant, and spoiler-free information", and users can even ask follow-up questions for more details.
Amazon plans to expand the "Ask This Book" feature to Kindle devices and Android apps next year.
Copyright Controversy and Author Control
Although this feature enhances the reading experience for some Kindle users, it also touches on a major point of contention between authors and publishers.
According to Publishers Lunch, an Amazon spokesperson confirmed that **"to ensure a consistent reading experience, this feature is always enabled, and authors or publishers cannot choose to disable certain books."** This mandatory activation policy immediately sparked discussions about content control.
Amazon's move comes amid other AI companies facing copyright infringement lawsuits. Recently, The New York Times and The Chicago Tribune sued Perplexity, accusing it of using copyrighted works to train its language learning models (LLMs).
Launch of "Plot Recap" Feature
In addition to "Ask This Book," Amazon has also launched the "Plot Recap" feature for series books on Kindle devices and iOS apps, which functions similarly to a "previous episode summary" in TV shows.
However, given that Amazon recently had to withdraw its AI-generated video plot recap feature, users should still be cautious when relying on "Plot Recap" for information.
