Amazon is bringing AI-powered features to its tablets, and older models won't miss out

(Image credit: Amazon)

Amazon has just announced the new Fire HD 8 tablet and it has generative AI features built in. Even more exciting, however, is the news that older tablets dating back to as far as 2018 will get some AI tools, too.

Amazon’s AI tools are nothing groundbreaking, just your general writing tools and the ability to summarize webpages when using the Silk browser, but what’s really cool is the company’s approach to making AI accessible, unlike some of its competitors.

Amazon’s Writing Assist (proofreading, rewriting, etc) and Wallpaper Creator, which generates a wallpaper from a prompt, are coming to the Fire Max 11 (2023), Fire HD 10 (2023), and Fire HD (2022, 2024) later this month.

Webpage Summaries will be available on the Fire Max 11 (2023), Fire HD 10 (2019, 2021, 2023), and Fire HD 8 (2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024). That means if you’ve got an older Fire HD tablet from 2018, you can still take advantage of AI, a stark contrast to Apple’s Apple Intelligence approach, which only allows AI features like summaries on newer devices.

AI tools for everyone

Introducing new AI features on Amazon's Fire tablets - YouTube

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In Amazon’s launch video for the new Fire HD 8 (see above), the company showcased the AI features and they work exactly as you’d expect from generative AI on a 2024 tablet. Writing Assist lets you pick a tone of voice, rewrite, and proofread in apps such as Notes and Messages. Wallpaper Creator looks similar to the best AI image generators with the ability to create a wallpaper for your tablet from just a text prompt. It's pretty cool although you’ll probably only use it once. Last but not least, Webpage Summaries enables you to quickly break down an online article into the most important information, which makes it a handy tool for quickly browsing the web.

The 2024 tablet has 3GB RAM for the 32GB model and 4GB RAM for the 64GB model, 50% more than the 2022 model in order to process these AI features with ease.

If you want to access these new Amazon AI tools but don’t own an older Fire HD 8, you can pick up the 2024 model right now for £49.99/$54.99 in an early Amazon Prime Big Deal Days offer. Amazon Prime Big Deal Days takes place on October 8 and 9, following the event the Fire HD 8 (2024) will return to its £99.99/$99.99 RRP.

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John-Anthony Disotto is TechRadar's Senior Writer, AI, ensuring you get the latest information on Tech's biggest buzzword. An expert in Apple, he was previously iMore's How To Editor and has a monthly column in MacFormat. Living in Scotland, where he worked for Apple as a technician focused on iOS and iPhone repairs at the Genius Bar, John-Anthony has used the Apple ecosystem for over a decade and is an award-winning journalist with years of experience in editorial.