Amazon has introduced “Ask this Book,” a new AI-powered feature in its Kindle app that acts as an “expert reading assistant” to answer readers’ questions about their books in real-time.
The feature, currently rolling out on the iOS app for thousands of English-language best-selling titles, allows users to highlight a passage and ask contextual questions about plot points, character relationships, or thematic elements without leaving the page.
Kindle app now answers questions about the book you’re reading https://t.co/ywI3Msj2Bc
— The Verge (@verge) December 15, 2025
Crucially, Amazon guarantees that the AI-generated answers are “spoiler-free,” as the responses are limited strictly to the content the user has already read. While positioned as a tool to enhance immersion and comprehension, particularly for long or complex novels, the launch has immediately intensified copyright and fair use concerns within the publishing industry.
This is because Amazon has confirmed that the feature is “always on,” meaning authors and publishers have no option to opt their titles out.
You May Like To Read: Germany Vows to Accelerate Afghan Relocation from Pakistan amid Deportation Fears
Critics fear that Amazon is effectively leveraging its vast, high-quality book catalog to build and refine a proprietary, hyper-contextual AI model, functioning like an “in-book chatbot” without explicit permission or compensation to the content creators, raising the unresolved legal question of whether this use constitutes fair use or unlicensed consumption of intellectual property. The feature is expected to roll out to Android and physical Kindle devices in 2026.
