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Boston Globe

Could AI understand Nietzsche? Maybe with the help of these scholars.

Advertisement 'Rebound was born basically as the idea that you can use AI to redistribute original commentary about books,' Kaag said. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up You read Rebind books through a standard web browser. At each page there are icons that let you type in questions about the work, or you can speak questions into Rebind's speech recognition system. Say you're unsure what Nietzsche means when he writes that God is dead. A Rebind reader can ask Clancy Martin, a leading Nietzche scholar who teaches at the University of Missouri in Kansas City. Martin distilled his expertise into a 300,000-word commentary on the book. When the reader asks a question of Nietzsche, Rebind's AI ferrets out Martin's answer and displays it on screen, sometimes with additional information located by the AI. Or suppose you're unclear about the meaning of Nietzsche's word 'Ubermensch.' Just highlight it and click to get Martin's explanation of the concept. Many AI applications promise to simplify our lives, but not Rebind. It's for readers who welcome the challenge of complex and demanding books, but who need help over the rough spots. The story of Rebind began two years ago with John Dubuque, who'd made a fortune in the plumbing supply business in St. Louis. But Dubuque's first love was philosophy, a subject he'd studied in college. Having sold the plumbing business, Dubuque reached out to Kaag, a specialist in the study of major US philosophers. Advertisement 'He said, 'Hey, I'd like you to take me through this book that I've always wanted to read but been scared of,'' Kaag said. Dubuque aimed high — he wanted to master 'The Varieties of Religious Experience,' a renowned 1902 book by Harvard philosopher William James. Kaag agreed, and the two had a high old time discussing ineffability, transience, and other concepts that rarely make the newspapers. The experience gave Dubuque an idea. He'd been awed by generative AI systems like ChatGPT, which could serve up sensible though not-always-accurate answers to all manner of questions. Surely a similar chatbot could be trained to guide readers through great books. Then anybody could learn to understand even the most demanding texts, without having to hire a college professor. 'ChatGPT can't do that,' Kang scoffed. But Dubuque believed it could be done by supplementing the AI with an in-depth analysis of the book, produced by a human expert. Martin and the other experts recruited by the company are called 'Rebinders.' Their job is to produce a vast amount of detailed commentary about their assigned books. They also appear in a series of videos that introduce the books and highlight key portions of the texts. It's hard work for the Rebinders, but they're paid five-figure fees for the work. 'I found it to be really, really creatively satisfying,' Martin said. 'You start working on something you love and you wind up pouring your heart into it.' Indeed, he liked it so much that Martin joined Rebind as deputy publisher. 'It was a surprising amount of work,' said Deb Olin Unferth, a professor at the University of Texas who's preparing a Rebind edition of stories by Kafka. Not that she's complaining. 'For me it became like a love project. I just had so much fun doing it.' Advertisement Rebind has recruited several literary stars. Marlon James has signed on to produce commentary for Mark Twain's 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,' John Banville is doing 'Dubliners' by James Joyce, and New York Times bestselling author Roxane Gay is Rebinding 'The Age of Innocence' by Edith Wharton. The company hopes to eventually offer upgrades to each book. By analyzing the questions asked by readers, Rebind will go back to their experts and request additional commentary to fill in any gaps. That way, Rebind books can get smarter over time. In all, 11 books are available through Rebind, and Kaag hopes to offer 20 by year's end. Prices per book vary between $30 and $60. Or readers can purchase a one-year subscription for $120 and get access to every book on the shelf. And if you think the current inventory of books is challenging, here comes the Bible. First up will be selections from the New Testament and the Gnostic Gospels, with commentary by Elaine Pagels, professor of religious history at Princeton University. But Kaag said they're working on the entire Bible. He said the first version will rely on a massive Bible commentary produced by Protestant scholars. He already knows what will happen next. 'We're going to get blowback immediately that we haven't addressed Catholicism or a Jewish interpretation of the Jewish Bible,' Kaag said. 'So what we're planning to do is actually upload multiple interpretations, and then put those into conversation with each other for end users.' Like having a priest, a rabbi, and a minister get into a friendly argument (not at a bar), mediated by AI. Advertisement Obviously Rebind isn't for everyone. In an age of social media and ever-present video entertainment, it's an open question whether such a cerebral technology product can find an audience. 'In times like ours do people really want to slow down and read in a very patient, thoughtful way?' Clancy said. 'Well, there's one way to find out.' Hiawatha Bray can be reached at