New AI tools let readers talk to books

Imagine a world where you could ask a book a question as you read it.

That's the pitch from a wave of new AI tools letting readers do exactly that.

"You are dealing with a book as if it is a living object -- it's totally different," says Ahmed Kamel, CEO of Sinai.ai, a platform now in testing.

With these tools, users get access to an e-book or audiobook alongside an AI chatbot. Confused about a character's motives or the historical setting? Just ask.

Readers can dig into a character's psychology, historical context, or a philosophical concept -- no separate research required.

French startup My Smart Book launched something similar in mid-April. Like Sinai, its chatbot draws only on the actual text of the book -- no outside information.

Even book-selling behemoth Amazon is in on it. Its audiobook company, Audible, launched a feature called "Ask a Question" last fall.

Mid-listen, you can tap a button, ask your question, hear the answer, and then pick up the story right where you left off.

"We're excited about the potential for AI-powered features to enhance the customer experience," an Audible spokesperson told AFP, adding the tool is "designed to answer questions specifically about the audiobook the listener is currently engaged with."

The company thinks it could pull in new fans too, making books "more accessible and appetizing to a broader range of listeners."

Amazon's Kindle has its own version: "Ask this Book," described as an "expert reading assistant" that answers questions about plot and characters "without disrupting your reading flow."

ElevenLabs -- a rising star in AI voice tech -- built "ElevenReader Voice Chat," which it says "turns any book into a two-way conversation."

Who gets paid?

But the question of who gets paid or has permission to develop this new reading superpower is a thorny one.

Sinai.ai says it only offers books that are either in the public domain or ones where the author, their estate, or the publisher signed off first.

Another company, iChatbook, does things differently.

"Our chat book is not a library of books -- it's a library of concepts and ideas and facts," says founder Brian Yang.

Instead of handing over the actual text, the AI pulls out key ideas and explains them in simpler language -- something Yang thinks could be huge for students.

And since it never quotes the book directly, it sidesteps a lot of copyright headaches.

Not every platform is as careful, though. Some, like Myreader, let users upload any book, whether or not it's under copyright, and then connect it to an AI interface.

Google's wildly popular NotebookLM -- recently rebranded as Gemini Notebook -- doesn't screen for copyright either, and neither does BookWorm AI, a ChatGPT-based tool that calls itself a "book companion."

Sinai.ai says it has built something it calls "AI rights" -- a system that pays authors and publishers when their work gets used by a chatbot.

The company also claims it's in talks with several of the "Big Five" US publishers: Hachette, Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, and Macmillan.
"I can clearly say at least that we are in active communications with almost four of the top five," Kamel said.

"We signed with many publishers in the US, big names in the Middle East. Things are moving very rapidly."

He even thinks the tech could get people to reread old favorites: "Now is the time to maybe dive into areas where it was really hard to do in the past."

None of the Big Five publishers responded to AFP's questions about their AI plans.
Not everyone's thrilled about the technology.

In December, the Authors Guild slammed Amazon's "Ask this Book" tool, saying it "is not licensed, brings in no new income, and does not allow publishers and authors to opt out, much less opt in," adding that it set "a dangerous precedent."

Agence France-Presse