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The Federal Trade Commission in the USA is being urged to investigate AI companies for allegedly buying rare books in bulk and then destroying them. Groups like the Consumer Federation of America have asked the FTC to look into claims that AI companies are digitizing the books to train their large language models (LLMs). The process includes breaking the spines of the rare works, scanning the pages, and then destroying them. Some destroyed books may be among the last surviving copies of the original texts. Critics argue that such books are historically important and that it is not socially acceptable to burn them. One critic said: "The rarer a book is, the more carefully we should preserve it."
The bulk buying of books is creating a dilemma for stores that specialize in rare and antique books. They are receiving large orders for some rather valuable items, but are then questioning the ethics of destroying books. The Wall Street Journal reported that rare and obscure book sales have suddenly surged. Booksellers have been getting unusually large orders for out-of-print, and sometimes valuable books. It added that some books are apparently being bought not to be read, but to be digitized for AI training. Earlier this year, the Washington Post reported that the companies are spending a fortune on millions of books that are being used to help train AI assistants.
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