Amazon's new Kindle feature is one of the first useful AI features I've seen

Summary

Amazon is rolling out a new Recaps feature for Kindle, which uses AI to refresh your memory by summarizing book plots, recalling characters, and more.
The Kindle Recaps feature is now available in the US, with support expected to land on the iOS and iPadOS Kindle app at some point “soon.”
Unlike many other hit-or-miss use cases for AI, this Recaps feature appears to be a genuinely useful addition — assuming it actually works, that is.

Amazon is rolling out a brand-new feature across its Kindle e-reader line in the US: a ‘Recaps’ tool for quickly getting up to speed on whichever digital book you’ve been picking away at.

Specifically, Recaps uses a combination of artificial intelligence (GenAI) and Amazon moderators to provide storyline and character arc refreshers on a per-book basis. These short recaps work across both purchased and borrowed Kindle ebooks, so long as the piece of literary work in question is written in the English language.

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“By adding a new level of convenience to series reading, the Recaps feature enables readers to dive deeper into complex worlds and characters without losing the joy of discovery, all while ensuring an uninterrupted reading experience across every genre,” says Amazon in a blog post.

According to the company, the new Recaps feature is now broadly available across all Kindle devices within the US. The iOS and iPadOS mobile Kindle app will be updated to incorporate the feature “soon,” but there’s no word on if and when the Android version of the app will be updated to add support.

Amazon Kindle

Amazon’s first-party Kindle app for downloading and reading all your favorite ebooks across your mobile devices.

This new Kindle Recaps feature represents a genuinely useful AI use case

I just hope Amazon’s AI tech has the chops to deliver satisfactory summary results

Pocket-lint / Amazon

Until now, I’ve been fairly critical of most applications and feature sets that rely on artifical intelligence to get the job done. Whether we’re talking about agentic (think: virtual assistant bots) or GenAI (think: generative photo creation tools) products, I’ve struggled to incorporate AI into my daily workflow to any meaningful degree.

Every now and again, however, I’ll run into a hyper-specific AI solution that simply clicks for me. Recently, these have included Apple’s excellent Clean Up tool, as well as Google’s fantastic Pixel Call Screen feature. While I’ve yet to try it out for myself, I have a hunch that Amazon’s new Racaps feature for Kindle will fall into this coveted category for me.

AI tools should work in the background, and they should solve problems proactively and without the need for much user input.

Amazon likens Recaps to the “Previously on…” segment before a TV show, and I think this is an apt comparison. As a slow and on-again-off-again reader, I tend to lose track of plot points and certain character developments when I finally hunker down to continue a book wherever I left off. Assuming Recaps’ AI and human moderation combo is reasonably accurate and able to deliver solid summaries, I can see myself using the feature regularly,

From my perspective, AI tools should work in the background, and they should solve problems proactively and without the need for much user input. They shouldn’t aim to solve problems that don’t exist, and they should seamlessly integrate into existing workflows without a steep learning curve. At first blush, Amazon’s Recaps feature appears to fit the bill.

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It should come as no surprise that Amazon is attempting to infuse artificial intelligence into its Kindle e-reader ecosystem. The company appears to be all-in on AI, embracing the tech in its recently announced next-gen Alexa+ virtual assistant.

Big tech companies from across the industry are vying for a slice of the AI pie, despite concerns over waning consumer interest levels, and the possibility of a dot-com-style bubble-bursting situation taking place at some point.

I’m still not convinced that chatbots or generative image-creator applications are the revelation tech companies make them out to be.

Amazon’s AI prowess has yet to be fully put through its paces — whether we’re talking about Alexa+ or the new Recaps feature for Kindle, the company is certainly operating in a cut-throat market. Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, Meta, and others are all heavily invested in cracking open the consumer AI market via large language models (LLMs) and the like.

I’m still not convinced that chatbots or generative image-creator applications are the revelation tech companies make them out to be. Smaller-scale tools like Kindle Recaps, on the other hand, are exactly the sort of sprinkling of AI that I think customers will actually make use of and appreciate.