Booksellers suspect AI firms are buying and then destroying rare books
Ars Technica Ashley Belanger ● Covered by 7 sources
Opinion — commentary, not a factual news event.
Booksellers suspect AI firms are buying rare books and then destroying the physical copies after removing pages to scan them for training AI models. The practice is described as involving wood chippers and cropping, scanning, and trashing torn-out pages. As a result, some physical copies may be lost permanently beyond what has been reported so far.
Why it matters
AI firms quietly bulk buying rare books face resistance from booksellers.