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New Kindle feature uses AI to answer questions about books

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Re: New Kindle feature uses AI to answer questions about books

#21

Post by catgary »

Mouvelie wrote: post #4
savanaly wrote: post #2

If they're not using the book text to train models (keeping the focus on this particular new Kindle feature), where's the room for objection? My device, my content, it's none of the author's business how I read it, in my view. Edit: Given I've been a reader of HN for some time, I am perfectly aware that on Kindle you don't own the content, just a license to the content. Don't need any more people pointing this out! L…

"Amazon DID NOT answer PubLunch’s questions about “what rights the company was relying upon to execute the new feature was not answered, nor did they elaborate on the technical details of the service and any protections involved (whether to prevent against hallucinations, or to protect the text from AI training).”

You don’t need any rights to execute the feature. The user owns the book. The app lets the user feed the book into an LLM, as is absolutely their right, and asks questions.

Re: New Kindle feature uses AI to answer questions about books

#22

Post by freedomben »

savanaly wrote: post #2

If they're not using the book text to train models (keeping the focus on this particular new Kindle feature), where's the room for objection? My device, my content, it's none of the author's business how I read it, in my view. Edit: Given I've been a reader of HN for some time, I am perfectly aware that on Kindle you don't own the content, just a license to the content. Don't need any more people pointing this out! L…

I wish it was "my device, my content" but it absolutely isn't. If you want that you have to buy from a DRM-free source, and Kindle is the absolute opposite of that.

Re: New Kindle feature uses AI to answer questions about books

#23

Post by dcre »

ceejayoz wrote: post #11
renewiltord wrote: post #9

Seems like a great feature. What I’d really like is a “recap for me till here” for books I started reading then stopped for whatever reason. I was reading Unsong for a bit (great book, very enjoyable) and then lately the baby has wanted a lot more attention so I didn’t get much reading done. I just want to catch up quick so I can continue. LLMs are great for this, for the plot and character questions, etc. Authors ha…

> LLMs are great for this, for the plot and character questions, etc. The article links to a clear, direct counterexample of this claim. By Amazon, even. https://gizmodo.com/fallout-ai-recap-prime-video-amazon-2000...

It's not that direct a counterexample. We have no idea what underlying data from the Fallout show they gave to the model to summarize. Surely it wasn't the scripts of the episodes. The nature of the error makes me think it might have been given stills of the show to analyze visually. In this case we know it is the text of the book.

Re: New Kindle feature uses AI to answer questions about books

#24

Post by idontwantthis »

renewiltord wrote: post #9

Seems like a great feature. What I’d really like is a “recap for me till here” for books I started reading then stopped for whatever reason. I was reading Unsong for a bit (great book, very enjoyable) and then lately the baby has wanted a lot more attention so I didn’t get much reading done. I just want to catch up quick so I can continue. LLMs are great for this, for the plot and character questions, etc. Authors ha…

I’ve found the complete opposite as recently as last week. When I ask a deep question about a book it will hallucinate whole paragraphs of bogus justification and even invent characters

Re: New Kindle feature uses AI to answer questions about books

#25

Post by johnnyanmac »

akersten wrote: post #6
Mouvelie wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Amazon DID NOT answer PubLunch’s questions about “what rights the company was relying upon to execute the new feature was not answered, nor did they elaborate on the technical details of the service and any protections involved (whether to prevent against hallucinations, or to protect the text from AI training).”

> what rights the company was relying upon to execute the new feature what rights does a bookstore clerk need to answer questions about a product on the store's shelves? what a presumptuous question

Yeah, the "but what about a human" argument doesn't really work here. Scale of data matters as always. And an Ai for kindle has the scale of 20 years of literature (and more if they just scrape the internet).

Re: New Kindle feature uses AI to answer questions about books

#26

Post by freedomben »

lawlessone wrote: post #8
savanaly wrote: post #2

If they're not using the book text to train models (keeping the focus on this particular new Kindle feature), where's the room for objection? My device, my content, it's none of the author's business how I read it, in my view. Edit: Given I've been a reader of HN for some time, I am perfectly aware that on Kindle you don't own the content, just a license to the content. Don't need any more people pointing this out! L…

>none of the author's business how I read it, in my view. my favorite way to eat is give other people my food, and have them tell me how it tastes and what not being hungry feels like. or to labor the point for the people that are having LLMs do their reading for them. Watching golf isn't playing golf.

Once you've bought that food and it's on your plate, how would you feel about the farmer who grew it coming up and forcing you to eat it with a specific fork or only using approved utensils?

Re: New Kindle feature uses AI to answer questions about books

#27

Post by johnnyanmac »

catgary wrote: post #21
Mouvelie wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Amazon DID NOT answer PubLunch’s questions about “what rights the company was relying upon to execute the new feature was not answered, nor did they elaborate on the technical details of the service and any protections involved (whether to prevent against hallucinations, or to protect the text from AI training).”

You don’t need any rights to execute the feature. The user owns the book. The app lets the user feed the book into an LLM, as is absolutely their right, and asks questions.

>The app lets the user feed the book into an LLM, as is absolutely their right,

I don't think that's cut and clear yet. Throwing media onto someone else's server may count as distribution.

Re: New Kindle feature uses AI to answer questions about books

#28

Post by dcre »

idontwantthis wrote: post #24
renewiltord wrote: post #9

Seems like a great feature. What I’d really like is a “recap for me till here” for books I started reading then stopped for whatever reason. I was reading Unsong for a bit (great book, very enjoyable) and then lately the baby has wanted a lot more attention so I didn’t get much reading done. I just want to catch up quick so I can continue. LLMs are great for this, for the plot and character questions, etc. Authors ha…

I’ve found the complete opposite as recently as last week. When I ask a deep question about a book it will hallucinate whole paragraphs of bogus justification and even invent characters

Did you give it the text of the book and tell it to answer based on that?

Re: New Kindle feature uses AI to answer questions about books

#29

Post by michaelbuckbee »

charcircuit wrote: post #5

This sounds useful for when you forget something that happened chapters earlier or when you space out and need to figure out what's happening. This feature should work for the user, author's shouldn't be able to deprive me of this tool.

Fantasy series seem like they've gotten longer and longer and it's often years between volumes. Many authors have started doing recaps of their previous books at the start of later volumes, but not all.

I could see this being useful for that.

Re: New Kindle feature uses AI to answer questions about books

#30

Post by bko »

freedomben wrote: post #22
savanaly wrote: post #2

If they're not using the book text to train models (keeping the focus on this particular new Kindle feature), where's the room for objection? My device, my content, it's none of the author's business how I read it, in my view. Edit: Given I've been a reader of HN for some time, I am perfectly aware that on Kindle you don't own the content, just a license to the content. Don't need any more people pointing this out! L…

I wish it was "my device, my content" but it absolutely isn't. If you want that you have to buy from a DRM-free source, and Kindle is the absolute opposite of that.

What does this have to do with the parent's comment?

Okay it's not 100% my device my content, so I shouldn't be allowed to run a local AI against the text?

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