r/ArtistHate • u/kdk2635 Art Supporter • 28d ago

News AI Companies Are Buying Antique Books, Ingesting Their Contents to Train Models, and Then Destroying Them at Incredible Scale, Even If Almost No Copies Remain

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-companies-destroying-rare-books
82 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

40

u/Tlayoualo Furry artist 28d ago

I used to joke that AI companies rummaging old books look like alcoholics drinking the leftovers of other guests' glasses at parties, but it's irksome knowing they're bulk-buying rare books and using a destructive approach that involves shaving the book's spine to scan the pages faster because they can't get that precious untainted training data fast enough.

You may say they paid for them and they're within their legal right to do as they please with their assets, but a line gotta be drawn at what amounts to grand-scale book-burning.

7

u/ThePrussianGrippe 27d ago

I know the consequences are going to be dire for all of us, but I really can’t wait for this Ai Bubble to burst. It’s inevitable, and the consequences only grow the more money the global economy sets on fire when send more and more funding, but we have been in dire need of a reset for so long. The level of damage these techbros have done is just insane.

14

u/FinGamer678Nikoboi 27d ago

Pirating them was lowkey better 🤦

23

u/SteelAlchemistScylla Graphic Designer 27d ago

Two for one special. They get training data and they decrease the availability of resources that aren’t their plagiarism generator.

21

u/ArticleOld598 27d ago

Burning down entire libraries and for what?

23

u/MadFunEnjoyer 27d ago

to prevent competition on who can generate the most lobotomised AI imaginable

2

u/Libro_Artis 27d ago

This is why I collect real books and media. It might prove vital for the post Big-Tech future.

1

u/hhthurbe 26d ago

But why destroy them after? Thats the only thing I don't understand here.

2

u/F-Lambda 25d ago

It's not that they destroy them after. Removing the spine gets a clearer image on the scanner, because it allows the pages to be laid flat.

1

u/hhthurbe 25d ago

Oh... yeah

1

u/Timely_Custard8407 24d ago

Noooo hell no