this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2026
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AI labs buy, scan, shred millions of rare books (www.news.com.au)
submitted 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) by themachinestops@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Artificial intelligence labs are in a new arms race to buy up millions of rare books, slicing them open, scanning the pages and pulping the remains — sparking concerns that the last remaining copies of out-of-print texts are being destroyed on an industrial scale.

ISBNdb notes that “print books from the pre-LLM era are structurally guaranteed to be free of this contamination”.

“Millions of the most valuable books have never been digitised. They exist only in physical form, scattered across library shelves, used bookstores, and out-of-print catalogues. We get them to you at scale.”

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[–] FireWire400@lemmy.world 139 points 3 weeks ago (16 children)

I really hope the AI bubble pops soon and takes at least some of these stupid companies with it. They've been operating at a GIANT loss for years at this point, how much longer will this go on?

[–] Tetsuo@jlai.lu 2 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Be careful, because we will all pay the price when the bubble pops. It won't be just the CEOs paying the bill, it will be governments and people.

[–] FireWire400@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

It has to get worse before it gets better I guess

[–] CileTheSane@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 weeks ago

The longer it goes on for the higher the price will be. The sooner it pops the better.

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