AI firms destroy ultra‑rare books

Investigative reporting revealed that several AI start‑ups and tech giants have entered secret agreements with rare‑book dealers to acquire and destroy valuable pre‑2022 publications, claiming the titles contain copyrighted material that could bias their models.

The deals are often sealed with non‑disclosure agreements, making it difficult for scholars to track the loss of cultural artifacts.

Legal experts argue the practice may violate heritage‑preservation laws, while the companies contend that the books are necessary to produce “clean” data sets for machine‑learning training.

The story has sparked a debate over the balance between AI development and the protection of historical works.