Yandex Books AI Introduces 'About Characters' Feature to Help Readers Keep Track of Story Cast

Yandex Books has introduced a new function called 'About Characters' that reminds readers about the characters appearing in the book as they read, without spoilers, either during reading or listening. This feature is part of Lumen, Yandex's future AI companion for entertainment services. Users can tap on Lumen in the reader or player and select 'About Characters' to get information about heroes, their roles, and connections, which is especially useful for those returning to a book after a pause or navigating titles with many characters. Lumen takes into account how far the user has read or listened, describing only characters and events already encountered, and cannot provide spoilers for the whole book unless the user switches to the last chapter. Additionally, readers can refresh their memory with 'Earlier in the Book' or get personalized recommendations for their next read. The author of the article, an avid user, finds Lumen equally helpful for fiction and non-fiction, citing works by David Graeber, and plans to use it for future articles on fantasy series.