Amazon has rolled out a new AI feature called Ask this Book for Kindle users in the US, allowing them to get contextual answers about books without spoilers. The tool is available on the iOS app for thousands of English best-selling titles. It responds based only on the reader's current progress in the story.
Amazon's latest innovation for Kindle aims to enhance the reading experience by integrating an AI assistant directly into books. Announced at the company's hardware event in September, the feature known as Ask this Book became available this week for US users via the Kindle iOS app.
Readers can highlight any passage in a purchased or borrowed book and pose questions about plot points, characters, or other details. The AI provides immediate, spoiler-free responses limited to information up to the user's current reading position. Follow-up questions are also supported for deeper clarification. This applies to thousands of English best-selling Kindle titles, ensuring a seamless, in-book reference tool without needing to pause reading or consult external sources.
However, the feature has sparked concerns among authors and publishers regarding control over content. An Amazon spokesperson told Publishers Lunch, a daily industry newsletter, that "To ensure a consistent reading experience, the feature is always on, and there is no option for authors or publishers to opt titles out." This stance echoes broader tensions in the publishing world, where AI companies face lawsuits over copyright issues, such as recent cases by The New York Times and Chicago Tribune against Perplexity for allegedly using protected works to train language models.
Looking ahead, Amazon plans to extend Ask this Book to physical Kindle devices and the Android app in 2026. Complementing this, the company has added Recaps to Kindle devices and the iOS app, offering summaries for books in series similar to episode recaps in television. Notably, Amazon recently pulled its AI-generated Video Recaps feature, prompting caution with AI-summarized content.
