Readwise AI Policy
TL;DR: We think AI can make software better. But when it comes to reading, AI is a lightning rod, so we take a cautious approach. Our AI features are meant to enhance reading, not replace it. You can turn off the AI features you use, and we do not train large language models.
This policy explains what we build, what we won’t, and whose permission we ask first. It covers how we use AI across Readwise Highlights, Readwise Reader, Readwise Books, and Readwise Bookshop. It describes our current practices and principles and is not part of the Terms of Service. Features, providers, and settings may change over time.
1. Our principles
We seek to improve reading, not replace it
We want AI features that deepen understanding, encourage reflection, and keep the text at the center. We are not interested in tools that turn reading into shortcuts or replace the original. When we summarize, it is to help you choose what to read or pick up where you left off, not to read for you. AI should help you spend more time thinking about what you read, not less time reading it.
We make reading software, not AI models
We do not train large language models, and our AI providers may not use your data, your prompts, or book content to train theirs. Training means giving an AI model a large body of text so it can learn patterns and generate output. We do not make any information available for that purpose.
We seek permission, not forgiveness
We do not offer AI features on Digital Content, as defined in the Bookshop Terms, unless its publisher or independent author has given clear, explicit approval. We prefer to move carefully rather than assume how Digital Content can be used. If a publisher or independent author has not opted in, we do not treat silence as permission.
We believe AI should be optional, not mandatory
Readers, authors, and publishers want different things, and we respect that. Each of them can choose which AI features to turn on or off, or to use none of them. Some AI runs in the background because the apps depend on it. See Approval and preferences.
2. AI features
Each of our apps offers different AI features. Ghostreader is the name for the AI features that help you understand, navigate, and discuss what you read.
Readwise Highlights
In Readwise Highlights, AI works on the highlights you collect:
- Ghostreader: on a highlight in your Daily Review, ask about it, find similar highlights, or explain, expand, or translate the passage.
- Chat: ask questions across everything you have highlighted.
- Themed reviews and suggestions: Daily Review themes and chat suggestions picked from your highlights.
- Daily Review audio: listen to your Daily Review read aloud, with short introductions and transitions written by AI.
Readwise Reader
In Readwise Reader, Ghostreader works on the documents you save, such as articles, PDFs, EPUBs, newsletters, and transcripts:
- Define: a dictionary gives you every meaning of a word. Define uses the surrounding paragraph to give you the meaning the author intended.
- Lookup: some terms are not in any dictionary, such as a character, a place, or a made-up technology. Lookup gathers mentions from across the document to explain what the term means and what role it plays.
- Translate: uses the surrounding paragraph to find the right equivalent of a word or short phrase in your language.
- Prompts: explain, summarize, or ask your own questions about a passage or a whole document, and create summaries and tags automatically when you save a document.
- Chat: ask questions about one document or your whole library, with answers grounded in what you saved. You can also dictate your questions by voice.
Readwise Books
In Readwise Books, Ghostreader works on books you upload and on Digital Content whose publisher or independent author has opted in:
- Define: a dictionary gives you every meaning of a word. Define uses the surrounding paragraph to give you the meaning the author intended.
- Lookup: some terms are not in any dictionary, such as a character, a place, or a made-up technology. Lookup gathers mentions from across the book to explain what the term means and what role it plays.
- Translate: uses the surrounding paragraph to find the right equivalent of a word or short phrase in your language. It does not translate full passages or chapters.
- Ask Questions: ask about the plot, themes, characters, or arguments, and get answers grounded in passages from the book. It does not generate derivative content, such as role-play or alternate storylines.
- Personal Session Recaps: like the “previously on” segment before a TV episode, a recap of only what you last read, to help you pick up where you left off.
- Shared Session Recaps: soon, friends will be able to glimpse each other’s reading sessions. For fiction, recaps will be spoiler-free and capture the mood of a passage without revealing the plot. For nonfiction, they will share one takeaway with a quote. You will be able to hide friends’ recaps entirely.
Text-to-speech
Readwise Highlights, Readwise Reader, and Readwise Books can read text aloud in natural-sounding synthetic voices. In Readwise Books, this feature is called Assistive Reader.
Assistive Reader is an accessibility feature. It reads the words on the page so readers who depend on audio, including people with visual impairments, dyslexia, or other print disabilities, can access the same books as everyone else. It gives a spoken rendering of the words, with no performance or narration of its own. It is not an audiobook, and it is not meant to replace one.
Because Assistive Reader is an accessibility feature, we do not limit it to readers with a disability. We do not ask anyone to disclose or prove a disability to have their books read aloud, and we cannot know who depends on it.
3. Approval and preferences
Publisher and author approval
We only turn on AI features for Digital Content after its publisher or independent author gives explicit approval. Approval is given feature by feature, so a publisher or independent author can approve some features for a title and decline others. They can withdraw approval for any feature at any time, and we will turn that feature off for their Digital Content. Publishers and independent authors can give or withdraw approval by emailing copyright@readwise.io.
Assistive Reader and highlights follow the digital rights management (DRM) requirements each publisher sets for its Digital Content. If a publisher limits text-to-speech, Assistive Reader follows that limit, for example by reading one page at a time. Highlights you make in Digital Content are also saved to your Readwise Highlights library, up to the length those requirements allow, and AI features there can use them like any other highlight.
Content you add yourself, such as documents you save in Readwise Reader or books you upload to Readwise Books, is handled differently. Your own settings decide which AI features work on it, as long as you have the right to use that content. See Sideloaded Content and Acceptable User Content in the Terms of Service.
Your preferences
You can turn AI features on or off at any time in each app’s settings:
- Readwise Highlights: the AI setting turns off Ghostreader, chat, themed reviews, and chat suggestions.
- Readwise Reader: the Ghostreader setting turns off Ghostreader, including Define, Lookup, Translate, and automatic summaries.
- Readwise Books: the Ghostreader (AI) settings turn off Define, Lookup, Translate, Ask Questions, and Session Recaps. When recaps are off, we do not create them for your reading. You can turn Assistive Reader on or off in the Appearance menu while reading.
These settings apply to your whole library, including content you add later. They do not turn off AI that runs in the background, because the apps depend on it. Turning off AI features does not affect the rest of the app. Settings and the features they cover may change.
4. AI that runs in the background
Some of our AI runs behind the scenes, rather than as a feature you choose to use. For example:
- Search and chat: we turn the text of your documents and highlights into embeddings, numbers that capture what a passage means, so you can search by meaning and chat can find the right passages.
- Saving and organizing: we use AI to clean up saved articles, transcripts, and podcasts, and to fill in missing details such as a title or author.
- Page photos: we use AI to turn a photo of a book page into highlights. In Readwise Books, we also use it to read your place in a book from a photo when you log a reading session.
- Recommendations: we may use the titles on your shelves to recommend books or suggest readers with similar taste to follow.
- Bookshop catalog: we use AI to group the editions of the same work into a single entry; classify titles by market, category, genre, and subgenre; write short book descriptions from the details publishers provide; and improve search results.
- Community safety: we may use AI and other automated tools, along with human review, to detect and address spam, fake reviews, manipulation, fraud, security risks, or content that breaks the Community Guidelines. See How we moderate in the Community Guidelines.
These follow the same rules as every other AI feature, described in Data and AI providers.
5. Data and AI providers
We use service providers to run our AI features. Depending on the feature, they provide language models, speech recognition and text-to-speech, image and document processing, search by meaning, or hosting. The providers and models we use may change as our products evolve.
We send each provider only the data needed for the feature or background task, usually a selection of text and its surrounding context, and sometimes images or audio.
We do not allow our AI providers to use your content, your prompts, or book content to train their models.
Some providers keep the data we send them for a limited time, for security, abuse prevention, or legal reasons. How long varies by provider and feature.
How long we keep your AI chats, and who on our team can see them, is described in the Privacy Policy.
If you add your own OpenAI API key in Readwise Reader, requests that use it are sent under your OpenAI account and its terms, so the commitments above do not cover them.
6. Limitations and accuracy
AI features are provided “as is” and “as available.” Their output may be inaccurate, incomplete, biased, or out of date.
In plain terms: AI features can be wrong. Ghostreader is a reading companion, not an authority, so when it matters, check the source. Text-to-speech can also make mistakes, like mispronouncing a word or misreading text.
If an AI feature gives you a wrong, harmful, or low-quality result, tell us in the app or at hello@readwise.io. Your reports help us fix problems and make these features better.
Our liability for AI output is governed by Limitation of liability in the Terms of Service.
7. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as our practices, technology, or legal obligations change. When we do, we update the “Last updated” date at the top. If a change is material, we tell you before it takes effect, for example in the app, on our website, or by email.
8. Contact information
For questions about this AI Policy, email us at hello@readwise.io. Our mailing address is in Contact information in the Terms of Service.