conv.

All stories
AIRunning 1d ↳ AI Backlash Widens as Congress Weighs a 'Kill Switch' for Rogue Models

Anthropic and Other AI Firms Destroy Physical Books to Harvest Training Data

Reports that companies including Anthropic are slicing up old books to digitize them for LLM training spark calls to preserve rare volumes first.

3 items1.1k engagement19 comments BlueskyPressHacker News
Anthropic and Other AI Firms Destroy Physical Books to Harvest Training Data
annas-archive.gl

Conversation activity · last 2 days peak 1/hr

Peak 1 item in one hour at Aug 9, 4 AM; 3 items over 2 days Aug 8, 4 AM — 1 itemAug 8, 5 AM — no itemsAug 8, 6 AM — no itemsAug 8, 7 AM — no itemsAug 8, 8 AM — no itemsAug 8, 9 AM — no itemsAug 8, 10 AM — no itemsAug 8, 11 AM — no itemsAug 8, 12 PM — no itemsAug 8, 1 PM — no itemsAug 8, 2 PM — no itemsAug 8, 3 PM — no itemsAug 8, 4 PM — no itemsAug 8, 5 PM — no itemsAug 8, 6 PM — no itemsAug 8, 7 PM — no itemsAug 8, 8 PM — no itemsAug 8, 9 PM — no itemsAug 8, 10 PM — no itemsAug 8, 11 PM — no itemsAug 9, 12 AM — no itemsAug 9, 1 AM — no itemsAug 9, 2 AM — no itemsAug 9, 3 AM — no itemsAug 9, 4 AM — 1 itemAug 9, 5 AM — no itemsAug 9, 6 AM — no itemsAug 9, 7 AM — no itemsAug 9, 8 AM — no itemsAug 9, 9 AM — no itemsAug 9, 10 AM — no itemsAug 9, 11 AM — no itemsAug 9, 12 PM — no itemsAug 9, 1 PM — no itemsAug 9, 2 PM — no itemsAug 9, 3 PM — no itemsAug 9, 4 PM — no itemsAug 9, 5 PM — no itemsAug 9, 6 PM — no itemsAug 9, 7 PM — no itemsAug 9, 8 PM — no itemsAug 9, 9 PM — no itemsAug 9, 10 PM — no itemsAug 9, 11 PM — no itemsAug 10, 12 AM — no itemsAug 10, 1 AM — no itemsAug 10, 2 AM — 1 itemAug 10, 3 AM — no itemsAug 10, 4 AM — no itemsAug 10, 5 AM — no itemsAug 10, 6 AM — no itemsAug 10, 7 AM — no itemsAug 10, 8 AM — no itemsAug 10, 9 AM — no items 1 item · 4 AM
Aug 9Aug 10

Summary, timeline and people extracted by Claude from 3 items across 3 sources · 1h ago. Quotes are verbatim.

Mashable reported that Anthropic and other AI companies have been cutting apart physical books to scan the pages as training data for large language models. Anna's Archive followed with a blog post urging volunteers to scan rare and out-of-print books before they are destroyed in this process, framing it as a preservation emergency.

  • Anthropic and other AI companies have reportedly been destroying physical books by cutting them apart to scan pages for LLM training data.
  • Anna's Archive is urging volunteers to scan rare and out-of-print books before more are lost to this destructive digitization process.
  • The revelations have fed broader public skepticism about AI's role in publishing, including doubts about the profitability of AI-generated self-publishing schemes.

How it unfolded

  1. Report Anna's Archive calls for scanning rare books before destruction

    Anna's Archive published a blog post titled 'AI companies destroy physical books – let's scan rare books before it's too late,' urging preservation efforts ahead of further destructive scanning by AI firms.

  2. Reaction Social skepticism over AI and book publishing

    A widely shared Bluesky post questioned the incentives of people selling courses on AI-generated self-publishing if such publishing were truly as profitable as claimed.

    “If they are making unlimited money self-publishing AI-generated books, why are they wasting time selling classes on how to self-publish AI-generated books?”

    matociquala.bsky.social · Bluesky ↗
  3. Report Mashable reports book destruction for AI training

    Mashable reported that Anthropic and other AI companies have been caught slicing up old books to create training data for their LLMs.

    “Anthropic and other AI companies have been caught slicing up old books to create training data for their LLMs.”

    Mashable · Press ↗

What people are saying verbatim

“Anthropic and other AI companies have been caught slicing up old books to create training data for their LLMs.”

Mashable, Publication · Mashable ↗ · Aug 7

“AI companies destroy physical books – let's scan rare books before it's too late”

Anna's Archive, Digital archive project · annas-archive.gl blog ↗ · Aug 9

“If they are making unlimited money self-publishing AI-generated books, why are they wasting time selling classes on how to self-publish AI-generated books?”

matociquala.bsky.social, Bluesky user · Bluesky ↗ · Aug 8