Google Play Books is the latest ebook store to jump on the bandwagon of adding AI features that enable readers to interact with the books they are reading. Amazon has already introduced, you will remember, a Story So Far feature that acts as a recap for readers who want to be brought up to speed when they dive back into a book. That feature also allows you to ask about characters and plot arcs within the book you are reading.
ALLi News Editor Dan Holloway
Google Adds an Interactive Reading Tool
Google’s Expert Intelligence seems to offer a similar kind of enhanced reading experience. It allows readers to ask questions about the book they are reading for ebook titles purchased from Google Play Books. At the moment, it is primarily a research tool for use with traditionally published nonfiction titles, but the feature’s creator, Stephen Johnson, suggests that Google could soon roll it out to other titles, including those by indie authors.
The piece I read in Publishers Weekly came with some encouraging text from the Authors Guild and publishers, who welcomed Google’s commitment to using only content consented to by authors and rights holders. Google’s own blog announcing the tool and explaining to readers how it works makes much of the fact that it has been created with authors and publishers.
What It Could Mean for Authors
I am not quite sure, though, that the fact that the AI only uses the text at hand and does not draw on more hazily sourced large language models is quite the first of its kind PW suggests. My understanding is that Amazon’s Story So Far likewise draws all its information strictly from the purchased title in question. But I do note with interest the emphasis on controls that the Google blog piece makes.
For example, any collaborative research using the feature would, it seems, require all collaborating parties to buy their own copy of the ebook before they can access information about that book. It’s also worth noting that Google is working directly with authors to add extra notes to the feature (a little like the director’s commentary on a DVD). How much of this gets rolled out to indie authors and at what benefit to rights holders remains to be seen.
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