Ask HN: Would you pay to discuss a book with an official AI clone of its author?

Not necessarily. At least, it should be labeled and set up differently. I do not care about the author (usually), but the content. I already can discuss books with AI. Nothing special here. What could be interesting is offering AI powered training sessions as an add-on to the book. However, the question would be why the book in the first place.

Nope, because the AI does not have the mind of the Author, simply as that. AI can't think the way the author will think and answer, won't make jokes like the author does.

Let's take for example an interview in a public library, where people are around, questions start, and the author with his personality answers with tone and some times thinking, but some other times says funny things. AI won't do this, it's going to answer straight forward the questions. Despite that, where is the fun of waiting to see your favorite author if possible?

The only authors who would sign such a deal would be near the end of their lives, and wishing to provide for their heirs. I don't think that it would be a widely accepted practice.

Hard no, but for context, I discuss books with AI all the time. I wouldn't discuss Hemingway with an AI, completely pointless. His work is not about the content, it's about the beauty of the prose. By comparison, The Timeless Way of Building, I have ruminated on and used AI to explore. It wouldn't make me want to interact with a synthetic version of Christopher Alexander.

That's not to say the backstory of an author isn't something I would go for either. The Undoing Project was the perfect bookend to Kahneman's work.

I actually like this. If it genuinely captures how the author thinks, rather than just doing RAG over their books, it could be really interesting. I’d definitely try it free. At $15, I’d want confidence the author had shaped what it can and can’t say, not just licensed their name. How involved would the author be?