I blogged last week that AI (ChatGPT) enabled me to summarize books for purpose of blogging and learning.
The New York Times’ Steven Kurtuz reports this week on an interactive reading experience, -were by AI.
Two philosophy professors, John Kaag and Clancy Martin, have started a publishing venture called Rebind.
Rebind takes classic texts in the public domain and pairs them with commentary from prominent authors and intellectuals, using AI technology to create an interactive reading experience.
The project is funded by John Dubuque, a businessman and former philosophy student who had previously hired Kaag for tutoring. Dubuque believes that classic books offer a unique and meaningful form of escape and hopes to make them more accessible to modern readers.
Rebind launches with a diverse lineup of authors and texts, including Margaret Atwood on “A Tale of Two Cities,” Roxane Gay on “The Age of Innocence,” and Marlon James on “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”
Each author has been interviewed extensively about their chosen text, and these interviews have been fed into AI software to create interactive commentaries that respond to reader questions.
While some may be skeptical of AI’s role in literature, the authors involved in Rebind see it as a tool for engagement and education and a way to get people to read the classics.
From John Banville, who provides commentary on Dubliners:
My initial reaction was deep suspicion, of course. You read a book in your hand and you read it line by line, page by page. But this is a wonderful way to get people to read classic books and not be afraid of them.
Kaag and Martin are optimistic about the future of AI in literature and view it as a creative opportunity. They plan to expand Rebind to include 100 classic texts, offering readers a unique and interactive way to engage with timeless works of literature.
Remind will be available June 17 on mobile, desktop and tablet. Users will have free access during the rollout, with per-book and a subscription pricing model to follow.
Let your imagination run wild when it comes to the law and interactive readin of legal literature.
Expect to see concepts using AI in publishing applications, used horizontally or in other verticals to be developed for legal publications.
Stay tuned.