ITT: people who really hate reading
New Kindle feature uses AI to answer questions about books
31–40 of 134 posts
Re: New Kindle feature uses AI to answer questions about books
#32Earlier 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
Is the "clerk" scanning the books an digitizing them to generate other products using an LLM under the guise of "Answering Questions?" I believe this is the question being asked.
Companies like Amazon and Google have some really sticky fingers when it comes to intellectual property and personal data. I think it's worth asking these questions and holding them accountable for exploiting data that doesn't rightly belong to them.
Re: New Kindle feature uses AI to answer questions about books
#33This 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.
Good lord, at this point just drone off in front of a Netflix show. How bad has it gotten that you even suggest that one can "forget what happened chapters earlier" ? This is not normal.
I'm an avid reader and I can assure you that it's very normal.
Re: New Kindle feature uses AI to answer questions about books
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
Good lord, at this point just drone off in front of a Netflix show. How bad has it gotten that you even suggest that one can "forget what happened chapters earlier" ? This is not normal.
What kind of books are you reading? You're telling on yourself (and very arrogant about it).
My thought exactly. Not all books are the same, and I'm willing to bet that GP is not reading the same books that I am, and not with the same goals.
Re: New Kindle feature uses AI to answer questions about books
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
>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?
You bought a kindle, they already did that to you.
Re: New Kindle feature uses AI to answer questions about books
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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.
> It's not that direct a counterexample.
Amazon made a video with AI summarizing their own show, and got it broadly wrong. Why would we expect their book analysis to be dramatically better - especially as far fewer human eyes are presumably on the summaries of some random book that sold 500 copies than official marketing pushes for the Fallout show.
Re: New Kindle feature uses AI to answer questions about books
#37If 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…
It's not training on books, but it will answer questions about the book you're reading. Doesn't pass the sniff test. >My device, my content I don't think you own the kindle store and servers used to train the Ai.
Are you implying that an LLM needs to be trained on a specific piece of text to answer questions about it?
Re: New Kindle feature uses AI to answer questions about books
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
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?
IMHO you should be able to enjoy your books however you want. If you want to run a local AI against it, more power to you.
But my opinion doesn't matter. Only Amazon's does. That's the point I was making. The premise of "my device, my content" is flawed (because of the DRM Amazon uses) and undermines the argument.
Re: New Kindle feature uses AI to answer questions about books
#39I really don't understand why authors believe they have something to say about how I read their book.
Re: New Kindle feature uses AI to answer questions about books
#40If 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…
You don't mind having an llm owned by a megacorp lecturing you about the meaning of a book ?
"Yes this is a good question about 1984 by George Orwell, you could indeed be tempted to compare the events of this book with current authoritarianism and surveillance but I can assure you this book is a pure work of fiction and at best can only be compared to evil states such as China and Russia, rest assured that as a US citizen you are Free"