The biggest ick factor here is not actually the AI, but the assumption that "good" reading somehow requires expert interpretation to "get it." Sure, classics can be hard to read, but you don't need AI versions of scholars to explain them to you. What you need is a book group!
“The creators of a new, artificial-intelligence-assisted publishing effort called Rebind hope that offering interactive, personalized guidance and commentary from well-known writers, scholars and celebrities will help bring classic books alive for students.”
Rebind, a new, AI-assisted digital publisher, is betting that interactive, personal guidance and expert commentary will revive a love for reading.
And as someone who wrote a book about digital reading, I am actually quite excited to see some innovation in the mostly uninspired e-reading space! But high-production videos and AI-generated top-down commentary is the worst way I can imagine to open up what's good about reading: the conversation!
Which would also have the side effect of community building. But who has the time? What with working atleast two jobs and scrolling for 6 hours a day!
Feels like using this would shift "readers" from discussing what they experienced reading to what consensus as a sort of read receipt. The learning & banter from discussion & perspectives w/ others is the best part!
It's like people forget that many of these books were also read for fun by ordinary people at the time. I mean sure, we miss some context getting to them now but they were generally not writteb to be interpreted by scholars as the only way to enjoy them.