@masukomi
I underlined in my previous post, about the Authors Guild's take on Ask This Book, the statement that,

Amazon has confirmed that it is using a “standalone” instance of an AI model to answer user queries and that its responses are based solely on the text of the book purchased by the user.

My understanding as a former programmer learning to use #AI as a tool is that an existing AI—used to parse natural language and to respond with synthetic cogency—needs be teamed together with a locally trained LLM to respond specifically. An example of this was to train auto accident reports to provide summaries without needing to read all the reports or training tech support tickets to provide procedures that can be used by tech support personnel to provide tech support. I was about to be tasked with the latter when I retired.

Ask This Book doesn't sound like any more than what I learned to do. But Amazon's feature definitively requires training an LLM. How could it not?

An AI, in its current formulation, is little more than a tool to pattern match data biased by frequency trends in that data. The book needs to be trained if "spoilers" are to be avoided. This is a self-indictment by Amazon.

#ai #amazon #askThisBook #author #writingCommunity #writersOfMastodon #llm #kindle #llms

@masukomi
Good point! Thanks for your response.

Searching the book has existed for awhile, on all Kindles and the app. Ask the Book is new and different. Google search even before AI was pretty good at figuring out what I wanted to find, deciphering my query… before they decided to bias toward showing results that were sponsored or could even slightly imply commerce. I still use the non-AI version as it is often provides the most relevant results.

My understanding is that Amazon trains an LLM with the books. I ended up at the Author's Guild to inform and correct my rant (and yes, what I wrote was a rant and I am embarrassed about that). As an author, I am comfortable with any bias they have on the subject. Quote first, then link.

The Guild is concerned that Ask this Book turns books into searchable, interactive products akin to enhanced ebooks or annotated editions—a new format for which rights should be specifically negotiated—and, given Amazon’s stronghold on ebook retail, it could usurp the burgeoning licensing market for interactive AI-enabled ebooks and audiobooks.

Amazon’s Response

We reached out to Amazon with our concerns and they reported to that “The feature only uses content from the book as a prompt which is not retained or used to train the underlying AI model.” An Amazon spokesperson explained that Amazon considers the feature to be “a natural language expansion of the search functionality that already exists in Kindle apps and for which no license is required.” Amazon further reasons that “readers have been asking these questions through internet searches for years and that this feature is more native, spoiler-free, and helps customers keep reading as opposed to coming out of the book, which is the case today with all other ways to answer questions about the book you’re reading.”

The Guild’s Take

We do not entirely agree with this depiction. In creating a chat feature that allows readers to ask questions about a book—including analysis and summaries—Amazon is possibly creating a derivate use, not a mere search function. Amazon has confirmed that it is using a “standalone” instance of an AI model to answer user queries and that its responses are based solely on the text of the book purchased by the user. This may suggest that Ask this Book uses RAG (retrieval augmented generation) technology, though we don’t have confirmation of this. RAG uses, for which there is a growing market, are typically licensed. The most common application of RAG technology is to make the output of LLMs more accurate in AI-based search engines.

—from https://authorsguild.org/news/statement-on-amazon-kindle-ask-this-book-ai-feature/#:~:text=The%20Guild%20is%20concerned%20that,not%20a%20mere%20search%20function.

#AI #Amazon #Askthisbook #writingCommunity #writersOfMastodon #authorsguild #author opinion.