Talking to books
You are interacting with a book as if it is a living object, that's completely different," said Ahmed Kamel, CEO of Sinai.ai, a platform that allows readers to chat with books and is in the testing phase.
With these tools, users can access e-books or audiobooks with AI chatbots. Are you wondering about the motives of the characters or the historical context? Just ask, the book will give the answer. In addition, readers can learn more about the psychology of the characters, historical context or a philosophical concept - without further research.
French startup My Smart Book launched a similar product in mid-April 2026. Like Sinai, their chatbot only uses the actual text content of the book - not external information.
Even the book giant Amazon is involved in this trend. Their audiobook company Audible launched the "Question" feature at the end of last year. While listening, you can press the button to ask questions, listen to answers, and then continue the story from where you stopped.
We are very excited about the potential of features supported by artificial intelligence in enhancing the customer experience. This tool is designed to answer specific questions about audiobooks that listeners are following," an Audible spokesman told AFP.
The company believes that this could also attract new fans, making the book "easier to access and more attractive to many listeners".
In addition, ElevenLabs - a rising company in the field of AI voice technology - has developed "ElevenReader Voice Chat", which they say "turns any book into a two-way conversation".
Copyright story
Sinai. who said, they only provide books that are public or books that the author, heir of the author or publisher has previously permitted.
Another company, iChatbook, does it differently. Accordingly, instead of giving the entire text, AI will extract the main ideas and explain them in a simpler language - which the company's founder believes can bring great benefits to students.
And because it doesn't directly cite the book, it avoids a lot of copyright trouble.
However, not every platform is as careful as that. Some platforms, such as Myreader, allow users to upload any book, whether copyrighted or not, and then connect it to an artificial intelligence interface.
Sinai. who said, they have built a system they call "AI rights" - a system that pays for authors and publishers when their works are used by chatbots.
The company also announced it was in talks with several of the "Big Five" US publishers: Hachette, Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins and Macmillan.
We have signed contracts with many publishers in the US, and big names in the Middle East. Things are progressing very quickly," Ahmed Kamel said. The CEO of Sinai. all emphasized that this technology can help people reread old favorite works, which was difficult to do before.
