Amazon's new Kindle characteristic is among the first helpful AI options I've seen

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Amazon is rolling out a brand new Recaps characteristic for Kindle, which makes use of AI to refresh your reminiscence by summarizing guide plots, recalling characters, and extra.
The Kindle Recaps characteristic is now accessible within the US, with assist anticipated to land on the iOS and iPadOS Kindle app sooner or later “quickly.”
Not like many different hit-or-miss use circumstances for AI, this Recaps characteristic seems to be a genuinely helpful addition — assuming it truly works, that’s.

Amazon is rolling out a brand-new characteristic throughout its Kindle e-reader line within the US: a ‘Recaps’ instrument for rapidly getting up to the mark on whichever digital guide you have been selecting away at.

Particularly, Recaps makes use of a mix of artificial intelligence (GenAI) and Amazon moderators to supply storyline and character arc refreshers on a per-book foundation. These quick recaps work throughout each bought and borrowed Kindle ebooks, as long as the piece of literary work in query is written within the English language.

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“By including a brand new stage of comfort to collection studying, the Recaps characteristic allows readers to dive deeper into advanced worlds and characters with out shedding the enjoyment of discovery, all whereas guaranteeing an uninterrupted studying expertise throughout each style,” says Amazon in a blog post.

In accordance with the corporate, the brand new Recaps characteristic is now broadly accessible throughout all Kindle units throughout the US. The iOS and iPadOS cellular Kindle app will probably be up to date to include the characteristic “quickly,” however there is not any phrase on if and when the Android model of the app will probably be up to date so as to add assist.

Amazon Kindle

Amazon’s first-party Kindle app for downloading and studying all of your favourite ebooks throughout your cellular units.

This new Kindle Recaps characteristic represents a genuinely helpful AI use case

I simply hope Amazon’s AI tech has the chops to ship passable abstract outcomes

Pocket-lint / Amazon

Till now, I have been pretty vital of most functions and have units that depend on artifical intelligence to get the job completed. Whether or not we’re speaking about agentic (suppose: digital assistant bots) or GenAI (suppose: generative picture creation instruments) merchandise, I’ve struggled to include AI into my day by day workflow to any significant diploma.

Each every now and then, nonetheless, I will run right into a hyper-specific AI answer that merely clicks for me. Not too long ago, these have included Apple’s excellent Clean Up tool, in addition to Google’s fantastic Pixel Call Screen feature. Whereas I’ve but to attempt it out for myself, I’ve a hunch that Amazon’s new Racaps characteristic for Kindle will fall into this coveted class for me.

AI instruments ought to work within the background, and they need to remedy issues proactively and with out the necessity for a lot consumer enter.

Amazon likens Recaps to the “Beforehand on…” phase earlier than a TV present, and I feel that is an apt comparability. As a gradual and on-again-off-again reader, I are inclined to lose observe of plot factors and sure character developments after I lastly hunker all the way down to proceed a guide wherever I left off. Assuming Recaps’ AI and human moderation combo is reasonably accurate and in a position to ship strong summaries, I can see myself utilizing the characteristic often,

From my perspective, AI instruments ought to work within the background, and they need to remedy issues proactively and with out the necessity for a lot consumer enter. They should not goal to resolve issues that do not exist, and they need to seamlessly combine into current workflows and not using a steep studying curve. At first blush, Amazon’s Recaps characteristic seems to suit the invoice.

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Unsurprisingly, Amazon is wholeheartedly embracing AI

The corporate’s new Alexa+ digital assistant is infused with synthetic intelligence

Amazon

It ought to come as no shock that Amazon is making an attempt to infuse synthetic intelligence into its Kindle e-reader ecosystem. The corporate seems to be all-in on AI, embracing the tech in its recently announced next-gen Alexa+ digital assistant.

Huge tech firms from throughout the business are vying for a slice of the AI pie, regardless of considerations over waning shopper curiosity ranges, and the potential of a dot-com-style bubble-bursting scenario happening sooner or later.

I am nonetheless not satisfied that chatbots or generative image-creator functions are the revelation tech firms make them out to be.

Amazon’s AI prowess has but to be absolutely put by means of its paces — whether or not we’re speaking about Alexa+ or the brand new Recaps characteristic for Kindle, the corporate is definitely working in a cut-throat market. Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, Meta, and others are all closely invested in cracking open the buyer AI market through large language models (LLMs) and the like.

I am nonetheless not satisfied that chatbots or generative image-creator functions are the revelation tech firms make them out to be. Smaller-scale instruments like Kindle Recaps, however, are precisely the form of sprinkling of AI that I feel prospects will truly make use of and admire.