Amazon Kindle's AI Revolution: New Features to Enhance Reading Experience

Why your Kindle's new catch-up features are perfect for busy and distracted readers

Kindle's iOS app will get the features first, then other devices. While new Echo devices, Fire TVs, and Ring cameras captured most of the attention at Amazon's Devices & Services event this week, the company also unveiled a pair of upcoming Kindle devices -- the Scribe and the Scribe Colorsoft. (Check out ZDNET editor Nina Raemont's hands-on thoughts on both here). The new Kindles do mostly what you would expect from Amazon's e-reader, but a couple of AI-powered features in the announcement caught my eye. It turns out those features aren't exclusive to the new Scribe series, but are coming to almost all Kindle devices. If you're anything like me, these features might just help you read a lot more. Also: Amazon event 2025 updates: Reactions to Echo, Kindle Scribe, Alexa+, Fire TV, more Whenever I find time to pick up my Kindle, I generally see two categories of books in my library. Some are books that captured my attention so well, I burned through them in a day or two. The majority, though, are books that I started, got distracted by another title, started that one, went back to my original, got distracted by a third, and so on. In fact, over half of my library is books in various states of completion. Naturally, those reading habits often lead to me wondering about things like, "Wait, who is this guy again?" or "What happened that caused all this drama?" By the time I've backtracked to sort things out, I don't have time to move forward very far, leading to my pile of unfinished books. Two new AI features aim to solve that problem. Story So Far: This feature, Amazon explains, is a highlight reel of sorts for what you've read. Instead of going back and skimming to catch up, you can jump right back into your book with an AI-generated summary. One of the biggest advantages here is that the summary only goes to the page you're on -- so you stay spoiler-free. The ability to not only quickly catch up, but also avoid spoilers in the process, is a game-changer for a distracted reader like myself. Ask This Book: If you're the curious type, this one's for you. With Ask this Book, you can highlight a passage and get answers to questions. You can ask about characters, the importance of a scene, why a character might be doing something, plotlines, and more. Also: The best Kindles you can buy: Expert tested Amazon says this feature -- like Story So Far -- takes into consideration only what you've read; you're not going to accidentally spoil anything. I'm terrible with remembering names, especially in books with a lot of characters, and I'll sometimes even resort to taking notes to keep track of everyone. With this feature, I'd be able to get a quick reminder about a person or scene without leaving my book. Amazon says these features will be available for thousands of purchased or borrowed Kindle books in the US. When I reached out, a representative explained they would be rolling out first to the iOS Kindle app later this year and then next year to all Kindle devices eligible for a software update. Get the morning's top stories in your inbox each day with our Tech Today newsletter. If you're interested in upgrading, the Kindle Scribe will be $429 or $499, depending on whether you opt for the front light, and the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft, which gives you a full color display with frame, will be $630.

Amazon Kindles are getting some unmissable new catch-up tools in 2026

Amazon hasn't been in a particularly giving mood recently where Kindles are concerned, but that will be coming to an end next year. According to a report from Good e-Reader, Amazon will be adding a brace of new AI-powered features that will help you stay abreast of your current book. Named "Story So Far" and "Ask this Book", this pair of new features should help sugar the pills Amazon has been shoveling down Kindle owners' throats recently. Story So Far and Ask this Book could be the most useful additions for years No more playing catch-up and avoiding spoilers Many of us don't have the time or energy for frequent reading, so when you finally sit down to get back to the book you've been neglecting, the last thing you want to do is spend time having to reacquaint yourself with the events you've already read about. That's where some upcoming features for the Amazon Kindle come in. The first of these, Story So Far, is intended to combat that very problem. This feature will use AI to brief you on the important events of the story up to where you've been reading. As you might expect, it'll avoid spoilers for later on in the novel, so you won't need to worry about ruining the rest of your readthrough. The next feature is called Ask this Book, and it functions a little like Amazon's existing X-Ray feature, which tells you about highlighted words or names in a book. Ask this Book goes a little beyond that, though. Highlight a sequence in the book, and it will tell the significance of that sentence, whether on a character or events within the book. Once again, it'll do so while keeping spoilers at bay. This is especially helpful in complicated texts, and should be another big help to those who might not have been dipping into books regularly. Of course, being AI-powered, be aware that this tech could come with some issues. For instance, I'm not sure whether I would trust it to avoid all spoilers. Given how slapdash AI can be with some answers, I wouldn't be surprised if some slipped through the net. This is good news for Kindle owners though, in a time when they've been starved for positivity. While some new features have dribbled out to Kindles recently, the majority of news about Amazon's e-readers has been dedicated to crackdowns on DRM removal and Amazon's insistence that e-books stay on Kindles and Kindles alone. For some who might have enjoyed taking e-books onto different platforms, this change in Amazon's approach has hit a real redline, even though the law is undoubtedly on Amazon's side. Kindle Paperwhite (2024) $130 $160 Save $30 6.5/10 Resolution 1,264x1,680 (300 ppi) Storage 16GB Screen Size 7 inches Processor Mediatek dual-core 1GHz $130 at Amazon $130 at Target $130 at Best Buy Expand Collapse