An Amazon AI chatbot that sums up the book you are reading while you are reading it. While trampling over the writer’s rights.
“Ask This Book."
“Your expert reading assistant, instantly answering questions about plot details, character relationships, and thematic elements without disrupting your reading flow.”
Enshittification is too polite a word for all this.
#Books #Bookstodon
#Enshittification #AI
writerbeware.blog/2025/12/12/k…
Kindle's New Gen AI-Powered "Ask This Book" Feature Raises Rights Concerns - Writer Beware
In a recent press release, Amazon noted that some new features were coming to Kindle. We’re adding new AI-powered reading features that preserve the magic of reading on Kindle.Victoria Strauss (Writer Beware)
reshared this
#PhantastikPrompts 14.12.:
Gibt es Tiere in deiner Geschichte? Wenn ja, welche?
Stand jetzt (Kapitel 6) sind noch keine persönlich aufgetaucht. Aber der Plan sieht außer dem üblichen Nutzvieh Mäuse und Katzen vor. Ach ja, und Ratten. Es *wird* Ratten geben.
Hannah Steenbock reshared this.
‘Outright evil:’ anguish and anger over South Africans tricked into fighting for Russia | South Africa
Mary hasn’t heard from her son since 27 August, when he told her he was worried he was being sent to the frontlines of Russia’s war with Ukraine. Since thenBYTESEU (Bytes Europe)
"Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes and groves,
And ye that on the sands with printless foot
Do chase the ebbing Neptune and do fly him
When he comes back;"
- #ShakespeareSunday, Tempest
The sunset is picking out detail in the flanks of the mountain and its cap of cloud. Tufts of withering grass scattered across the black dunes are made golden by the low light.
Kambhorn (522m/1712ft) at Stokksnes, #Iceland.
#SilentSunday #StillerSonntag #Iceland2025 #LandscapePhotography #Photography
Le raton laveur retrouvé ivre dans un magasin américain n’en était pas à son coup d’essai
huffingtonpost.fr/internationa…
Le raton laveur retrouvé ivre dans un magasin américain n’en était pas à son coup d’essai
Il y a une dizaine de jours, ce raton laveur était entré par effraction dans un magasin d’alcool de l’État de Virginie, devenant instantanément célèbre sur les réseaux sociaux.Le HuffPost
Schoten op druk Bondi Beach in Sydney, zeker dertien personen naar het ziekenhuis
Australië: Bij de schietpartij zijn meerdere schoten gelost. Zeker dertien personen zouden naar het ziekenhuis zijn gebracht. Hoewel er twee verdachten zijn opgepakt, is de politieactie nog gaande.Nina Eshuis (NRC)
Israel Says Hamas Leader Killed in Gaza, Testing Fragile Truce
Israel killed Hamas commander Raed Saad, citing truce violations and rearming efforts, as plans for an international force involving Italy emerge.BYTESEU (Bytes Europe)
Help me become a hoya lover - All For Gardening
I have mixed feelings about hoyas.. It all started when I first got my variegated wayetii months ago and she's been nothing but a pain 😭 She would dropGardener (All For Gardening)
Dick van Dyke turned 100 years old yesterday
It was over a half-century ago, when I last watched his show
halifax.citynews.ca/2025/12/13…
Affable comedy acting legend Dick Van Dyke turns 100 years old
Comedy icon Dick Van Dyke celebrated his 100th birthday on Saturday, hitting the century mark some six decades after he sang and danced with Julie Andrews in “Mary Poppins” and starred in his self-titled sitcom.News Staff (CityNews Halifax)
The Lady (La Donna) reshared this.
It went off the air, but may have had reruns return. I never saw the show again.
Midlands Reform UK council racism row sees calls for further resignations
East Staffordshire's Deputy Mayor, the first black woman to become a councillor on the borough authority, said 'we will not segregate ourselves' following...Kerry Ashdown & Local Democracy Reporter & Matt LLoyd (Yahoo News UK)
polar.se/en/expeditions/iq2300…
iQ2300 2025/26
During the Antarctic summer of 2025/26, the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat will carry out the iQ2300 expedition to Dronning Maud Land as part of the Swedish Antarctic Research Program (SWEDARP).Polarforskningssekretariatet
Trump Vows Retaliation After Three Americans Killed In Daesh Attack In Syria
The attack on US forces on Saturday was the first to inflict casualties since the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a year ago.BYTESEU (Bytes Europe)
Melocactus seabraensis/concinnus - All For Gardening
now synonymized with concinnus, but represents a smaller form of the speciesGardener (All For Gardening)
My son died by suicide – I’m trying to save others
Harry W.
in reply to Ciara • • •this is gross!
Though I expect it to work as well as their other most recent A.I adventure
engadget.com/entertainment/str…
A.I. seems to be a solution looking for a problem.
Amazon pulls its bad AI video recaps after Fallout fallout
Ian Carlos Campbell (Engadget)Ciara reshared this.
Ciara
in reply to Harry W. • • •JDS
in reply to Ciara • • •hanktank61
in reply to Ciara • • •Not completely. This as proof :)
Reading declined through the net-years.
Improving there as well, with a preference for all what is written before 2000.
Antiquarian bookshops are becoming interesting again.
And Gutenberg is great too. Still need a device for that...
Anything older than 30 years is considered "Old" or "Historic", isn´t it ?
For newer , the library is also still there.
Ciara
in reply to hanktank61 • • •L'égrégore André ꕭꕬ
in reply to Ciara • • •"answers to questions about things like a character’s motive or the significance of a scene"
Ah, finally someone came up with a solution to the problem of *checks notes* "books that make you think"?!‽
Truly an invention by the most unimaginative minds the corporate ladder can produce.
Ciara reshared this.
Ciara
in reply to L'égrégore André ꕭꕬ • • •@Mabande
"Truly an invention by the most unimaginative minds the corporate ladder can produce."
Well said, well put.
Morten Juhl-Johansen
in reply to L'égrégore André ꕭꕬ • • •I am not sure they are the people we should invest time and effort in, at least with literature.
Ciara
in reply to Morten Juhl-Johansen • • •Jens Jäger
in reply to Ciara • • •Ciara
in reply to Jens Jäger • • •Interesting! So there are readers who want this kind of AI chatbot! I actually quite enjoy those 'who is Harriet again?' moments when I have to flick either my mind or the pages back to remember. In the same way, I miss the random conversations we used to have when someone would say 'wait, is Paul Newman dead?' and we'd try to group-remember through anecdotes and recall-by-association. Now someone just whips their phone out and looks up A Fact.
@mjj @Mabande
DrYak
in reply to Ciara • • •Ciara
in reply to DrYak • • •Babs E. Blue #IStandW/Ukraine
in reply to L'égrégore André ꕭꕬ • • •Ciara
in reply to Babs E. Blue #IStandW/Ukraine • • •Natasha
in reply to Ciara • • •Ciara
in reply to Natasha • • •cwicseolfor
in reply to Ciara • • •Ciara
in reply to cwicseolfor • • •cwicseolfor
in reply to Ciara • • •Ciara
in reply to cwicseolfor • • •Lance
in reply to Ciara • • •Ciara
in reply to Lance • • •Brokar
in reply to Ciara • • •There is no opt-out.
Ciara reshared this.
Ciara
in reply to Brokar • • •Ciara
Unknown parent • • •Ciara
Unknown parent • • •Pomegranate_Stew 🎄
in reply to Ciara • • •Ciara
in reply to Pomegranate_Stew 🎄 • • •arrbee
in reply to Ciara • • •Having given up on finding a "killer app" based on LLM they are now bundling this kind of unnecessary feature into mainstream products with an eye to demanding extra payments later when users (and business clients) are locked in.
Ciara
in reply to arrbee • • •Ciara
Unknown parent • • •My feelings too.
"telling me what it statistically assumes happened."
A key point. Anyone who has discussed books with other humans, especially in book groups, knows that people often read plots, scenarios, characters , events and whole stories differently. Sometimes disagreeing on what actually happened, when writers (delightfully) create ambiguity and room for interpretation and imagination. A language probability machine's statistical best-guess has no role to play here.
caffetino
in reply to Ciara • • •Ciara
in reply to caffetino • • •Chris Hessert
in reply to Ciara • • •Ciara
in reply to Chris Hessert • • •Erik Ableson
in reply to Ciara • • •