Jürgen Hubert@juergen_hubert@mementomori.social

So apparently #AI companies are buying old books at secondhand bookstores which aren't yet available in digital form, scan them in to feed their models, and then shred the books afterwards.

#books #bookstodon
tagesschau.de/kultur/ki-firmen

tagesschau.deKI-Firmen kaufen offenbar Antiquariate leer - Buchhändler alarmiertEs sind sonderbare Bestellungen: Massenweise werden in Antiquariaten innerhalb kürzester Zeit online Ladenhüter bestellt. Dahinter stecken vermutlich Firmen, die ihre KI trainieren. Nicht nur Buchhändler sind alarmiert. Von J. Büchsenmann.
Tim Ward ⭐🇪🇺🔶 #FBPE@TimWardCam@c.im

Replying to @juergen_hubert@mementomori.social

@juergen_hubert "It includes a scanner that reads individual pages of books at high speed. These pages were previously removed from bound books."

Other, non-destructive, scanning technologies exist, such as that used to create the Cambridge Library Collection. But the process costs more.

cambridge.org/core/publication

Cambridge CoreCambridge Library CollectionWelcome to Cambridge Core
Jul 5, 2026, 11:58 UTCen