Calibre adds AI "discussion" feature • Hacker News Board

Re: Calibre adds AI "discussion" feature

#21

Post by _23sd » Fri, Dec 26, 2025, 4:12 PM UTC

another_twist wrote: post #20

_23sd wrote: post #15

The addition doesn't really bother me because Calibre is already full of features that seem utterly useless, so I trust its author to add new stuff without ruining the parts that are useful to me. Still, does anyone actually use "ChatGPT bolted onto the ebook reader" type features for anything besides cheating on school assignments? Lack of web search tools makes them suboptimal for asking clarifying questions or get…

Its useful for answering questions related related to back references. eg who was this character if you're reading a novel with too many of these.

Oh true, that actually sounds useful. I often just avoid that kind of novel because I'm terrible with names.

Re: Calibre adds AI "discussion" feature

#22

Post by mcphage » Fri, Dec 26, 2025, 4:15 PM UTC

gardenerik wrote: post #2

I struggle to understand the pushback against AI features. As long as the feature isn't intrusive, it seems like a minor addition, and may even be useful to some people. LLMs are here to stay, there is no denying that at this point.

If they added a menu item “Kick a puppy”, and every time you clicked it, a puppy somewhere got kicked, would your response be “oh, well, I don’t like kicking puppies, so I just won’t click it, no big deal”?

Re: Calibre adds AI "discussion" feature

#23

Post by VertanaNinjai » Fri, Dec 26, 2025, 4:27 PM UTC

Arodex wrote: post #14

gmuslera wrote: post #11

I think it adds value. Having a conversation with/around a book/document with an AI is a good use case, and having that feature as a not forced option in a book management solution a good match. It is not something that works regardless if we configure or activate it or not. It may broaden the AI use for people that find that useful? Yes. Would that end being dependency on a particular provider? Maybe on how we use i…

[flagged]

If you’re against anthropomorphism of LLMs then how can it “encourage” you if you’re not having a conversation? How could it “convince” you of anything or cast something in a bad light without conversing?

Your point about censorship, however, I fully agree with.

Re: Calibre adds AI "discussion" feature

#24

Post by jlarocco » Fri, Dec 26, 2025, 4:28 PM UTC

gardenerik wrote: post #2

I struggle to understand the pushback against AI features. As long as the feature isn't intrusive, it seems like a minor addition, and may even be useful to some people. LLMs are here to stay, there is no denying that at this point.

People are annoyed because the rollout of AI has been very intrusive. It's being added to everything even when it doesn't make sense. It's this generations version of having an app for every website. Does Calibre really need its own AI chatbox when I can ask the same question to ChatGPT in a browser?

Re: Calibre adds AI "discussion" feature

#25

Post by squigz » Fri, Dec 26, 2025, 4:32 PM UTC

> After much pushback, it looks as though users will get the ability to hide the feature from calibre's user interface, but LLM-driven features are here to stay and more will likely be added over time.

With the whole "no local models?! mega corp censorship!" complaint sidestepped from day 1, and now that it's not even shown on the UI, what will AI opponents complain about?!

Re: Calibre adds AI "discussion" feature

#26

Post by squigz » Fri, Dec 26, 2025, 4:34 PM UTC

jlarocco wrote: post #24

gardenerik wrote: post #2

I struggle to understand the pushback against AI features. As long as the feature isn't intrusive, it seems like a minor addition, and may even be useful to some people. LLMs are here to stay, there is no denying that at this point.

People are annoyed because the rollout of AI has been very intrusive. It's being added to everything even when it doesn't make sense. It's this generations version of having an app for every website. Does Calibre really need its own AI chatbox when I can ask the same question to ChatGPT in a browser?

Do you really need AI integration in your IDE when you can just use the ChatGPT chatbox in your browser?

Having it built-in allows Calibre to add context to the prompt automagically.

Re: Calibre adds AI "discussion" feature

#27

Post by gardenerik » Fri, Dec 26, 2025, 4:37 PM UTC

afavour wrote: post #16

TechSquidTV wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Summarizing text can very easily be done by local AI. Low powered, and free. for this type of task, there is essentially no reason to pay.

Which is not what is happening here. I think a lot of people’s objections would be resolved by a local model.

> Currently, calibre users have a choice of commercial providers, or running models locally using LM Studio or Ollama.

The choice is yours. If you want local models, you can do that.

Re: Calibre adds AI "discussion" feature

#28

Post by danielscrubs » Fri, Dec 26, 2025, 4:39 PM UTC

gardenerik wrote: post #2

I struggle to understand the pushback against AI features. As long as the feature isn't intrusive, it seems like a minor addition, and may even be useful to some people. LLMs are here to stay, there is no denying that at this point.

For my part it is the uneasy feeling of maybe being tracked and “sharing” private text/media either by accident or by the software’s malice.

Most devs want to put AI on their CV so they have strong personal incentives to circumvent what is best for their users.

Would you like to have LLM connections to Google from your OSS torrent client?

We can see the painting on the wall, but still not like it.

Re: Calibre adds AI "discussion" feature

#29

Post by on_the_train » Fri, Dec 26, 2025, 5:05 PM UTC

gardenerik wrote: post #2

I struggle to understand the pushback against AI features. As long as the feature isn't intrusive, it seems like a minor addition, and may even be useful to some people. LLMs are here to stay, there is no denying that at this point.

People don't want it, plain and simple. Yet again here, like a thousand times before: it still gets forced on users. I don't know who's orchestrating this madness, but it's pathetic

Re: Calibre adds AI "discussion" feature

#30

Post by janice1999 » Fri, Dec 26, 2025, 5:14 PM UTC

VertanaNinjai wrote: post #23

Arodex wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

If you’re against anthropomorphism of LLMs then how can it “encourage” you if you’re not having a conversation? How could it “convince” you of anything or cast something in a bad light without conversing? Your point about censorship, however, I fully agree with.

> If you’re against anthropomorphism of LLMs then how can it “encourage” you if you’re not having a conversation?

Humans are more than biased word predictors.