AI is destroying not just the chip market but rare books too
Do you like reading a good old paperback? Me too, I like the tactile feeling of turning the pages. Soon, though, thanks to AI, rare and old books might disappear.
Do you like reading a good old paperback? Me too, I like the tactile feeling of turning the pages. Soon, though, thanks to AI, rare and old books might disappear. Because, according to bookstore owners, AI companies are buying books in bulk and then destroy them.
AI has been feeding on rare and old books
Companies are destroying millions of pages to train their AI models. | Image by Unsplash
Now, before you start imagining dystopian scenarios taken from Fahrenheit 451, it's not like AI companies are piling books and setting them on fire. But the truth is not far off.
In the never-ending quest to train large language models, companies are feeding information from physical books to these AI agents. The problem is that for efficiency, what these companies are doing is ripping off the covers, slicing off bindings, and feeding the loose pages into scanners. It's just the most efficient and cheap way to do it.
However, the books don't survive the process, and this is now triggering a huge backlash from librarians, independent book sellers, and people who love books in general.
What do you think about companies destroying books to train AI?
AI companies are buying books in bulk
AI companies are buying books in bulk. | Image by PhotoAC
This is already making book sellers suspicious, as the orders are flowing but the books are disappearing. Kennys Bookshop in Ireland, for example, flagged a suspicious order for 5,000 obscure titles bought at full price. This has become one of the big red flags when it comes to AI-driven book purchases in bulk.
Recommended For You
Tomas Kenny, the owner of the aforementioned book store, started to refuse such orders, in fear that old and rare out-of-print works are getting destroyed, possibly forever. It's a violation of both the authors' intellectual property and the ethical code — destroying books is just wrong.
The destruction is not necessary, it's simply cheaper
Rare and old books are cleaned and scanned by hand, normally... | Image by Instagram
The most infuriating fact in all this is that these books don't have to be destroyed to be digitalized. Institutions such as the Internet Archive have been digitizing books without damaging a single page for decades.
The difference is that the process involves real people and takes time and money. Commercial automated scanners are much cheaper, but they use vacuum hands to tear the pages and feed them inside their bellies, just like mechanical monsters from a pre-industrialization children's book.
The future of books
This looks dystopian, but maybe we shouldn't destroy books? | Image by Medium
I might be getting a bit dramatic here, but I grew up basically living in libraries. The thought that these tech nerds are destroying books to train AIs is infuriating to me.
Of course, in light of the massive public backlash, many companies are attempting to preserve their public image. OpenAI and Microsoft, for example, have teamed up with Harvard in an attempt to digitize public-domain books non-destructively.
Elon Musk said that he specifically instructed xAI teams to preserve rare books and scan them manually. Critics remain skeptical and think the corporate definition of a "rare" book could be vague, and there are no mechanisms to scrutinize these scanning operations.
What do you think about AI companies destroying books?
Six-month unlimited plan is now 57% off
$90
$210
$120 off (57%)
Mint Mobile is now allowing you to get whichever plan you like for either three, six, or 12 months for just $15/mo. If you go for the six-month unlimited service, for instance, you'll now have to pay just $90 upfront instead of $210.
Mariyan, a tech enthusiast with a background in Nuclear Physics and Journalism, brings a unique perspective to PhoneArena. His childhood curiosity for gadgets evolved into a professional passion for technology, leading him to the role of Editor-in-Chief at PCWorld Bulgaria before joining PhoneArena. Mariyan's interests range from mainstream Android and iPhone debates to fringe technologies like graphene batteries and nanotechnology. Off-duty, he enjoys playing his electric guitar, practicing Japanese, and revisiting his love for video games and Haruki Murakami's works.
A discussion is a place, where people can voice their opinion, no matter if it
is positive, neutral or negative. However, when posting, one must stay true to the topic, and not just share some
random thoughts, which are not directly related to the matter.
Things that are NOT allowed:
Off-topic talk - you must stick to the subject of discussion
Offensive, hate speech - if you want to say something, say it politely
Spam/Advertisements - these posts are deleted
Multiple accounts - one person can have only one account
Impersonations and offensive nicknames - these accounts get banned
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts:
New accounts created within the last 24 hours may experience restrictions on how frequently they can
post or comment.
These limits are in place as a precaution and will automatically lift.
Moderation is done by humans. We try to be as objective as possible and moderate with zero bias. If you think a
post should be moderated - please, report it.
Have a question about the rules or why you have been moderated/limited/banned? Please,
contact us.
Things that are NOT allowed:
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts: