this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2026
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They scan them and destroy them so other AI companies can never get them.
Other AI companies can still buy them, they're just rare because nobody bought them in the first place. They destroy them because scanning them is faster and in some jurisdictions that absolves you from copyright infringement since the amount of copies doesn't go up
I'm just repeating what 404 media said on their July 21 podcast. They said that the first reports of AI book buyups were in Spain and the Netherlands, from rare book traders. The theory is that these AI companies are in a race to get the rare books first because they will be scanned and destroyed and they know that the widely circulated books will be available later
Edit: and if you scan and destroy rare books then you have an advantage over the competition, another company can't scan a book you've destroyed