@danshipper: if true, this sucks and shouldn't continue with rare books

X AI KOLs Following News

Summary

AI companies are reportedly bulk-buying rare books, scanning them by cutting spines and shredding originals, facilitated by a service called ISBNdb, raising ethical concerns.

if true, this sucks and shouldn't continue with rare books
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Cached at: 07/27/26, 03:56 PM

if true, this sucks and shouldn’t continue with rare books

Hedgie (@HedgieMarkets): 🦔AI companies are bulk-buying rare books, scanning them through high-speed machines that cut the spines off, and shredding the originals. A service called ISBNdb facilitates orders of up to a million books and keeps buyers anonymous. Pre-2022 books are premium because they’re

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AI companies are buying and destroying physical books, including rare copies, to train their models, raising ethical and legal concerns about the treatment of cultural artifacts.