Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

AI companies destroy physical books – let's scan rare books before it's too late

annas-archive.gl

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

321–330 of 961 posts

Re: AI companies destroy physical books – let's scan rare books before it's too late

#321

Post by alerighi »

ziyadb wrote: post #299

I was surprised to read that Anthropic (and probably other data / model companies) are doing this and it's extremely disappointing, as working towards the benefit of humanity is not an exclusive right / domain of theirs but rather, is a shared responsibility and mission carried by all of humanity itself as a collective responsibility. Thus, the preservation of this knowledge, its availability, and accessibility are t…

Yes but let's continue using Claude to write code because we suck at programming. Really the only way out of this is to STOP NOW using AI and use our brain instead. These company will just shut down if we stop using, and thus paying, for their services.

Come on, we did without AI for all our history, we could live without it with no issue (as to me we could live without smartphones, internet, etc if we want).

Re: AI companies destroy physical books – let's scan rare books before it's too late

#322

Post by ForHackernews »

brainwad wrote: post #301
xandrius wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that you probably do little research or read very few old books. There are multiple instances of a book being referred within another book, while at the time the author had access to it, we might not have it today. Taking a rare book and destroying absolutely erases that link we have with the past. You not seeing a problem with this is the core issue, it's probably why the people doing it (it's people…

Surely the people granted a legal monopoly to print the books will have kept a copy of the masters in order to reprint any lost works. Surely copyright works as intended for the public good and isn't just rent seeking. Surely.

I can't tell if you're making a joke but many (most?) rare books predate the modern copyright regime and the original printing plates are somewhere in a 17th century midden heap.

Re: AI companies destroy physical books – let's scan rare books before it's too late

#323

Post by JohnFen »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #313

What often gets missed is that they are buy one physical copy and turning it into a digital copy. They have done zero to destroy the durability. In fact, it’s probably more durable. If the physical copies are scarce, that is due to the publisher and copyright laws and not them buying and converting a single copy.

> turning it into a digital copy.

Are they? Or are they just using it for training and not keeping the digital copy afterwards? And even if they are keeping a digital copy, does that actually matter if they never release it?

Re: AI companies destroy physical books – let's scan rare books before it's too late

#324

Post by Filligree »

smalltorch wrote: post #303
ziyadb wrote: post #299

I was surprised to read that Anthropic (and probably other data / model companies) are doing this and it's extremely disappointing, as working towards the benefit of humanity is not an exclusive right / domain of theirs but rather, is a shared responsibility and mission carried by all of humanity itself as a collective responsibility. Thus, the preservation of this knowledge, its availability, and accessibility are t…

Surely they have the high quality scans, but there would probably be the same legal restrictions to just share the archive.

Obviously. Copyright infringement is settled law.

Re: AI companies destroy physical books – let's scan rare books before it's too late

#325

Post by HeWhoLurksLate »

alerighi wrote: post #321
ziyadb wrote: post #299

I was surprised to read that Anthropic (and probably other data / model companies) are doing this and it's extremely disappointing, as working towards the benefit of humanity is not an exclusive right / domain of theirs but rather, is a shared responsibility and mission carried by all of humanity itself as a collective responsibility. Thus, the preservation of this knowledge, its availability, and accessibility are t…

Yes but let's continue using Claude to write code because we suck at programming. Really the only way out of this is to STOP NOW using AI and use our brain instead. These company will just shut down if we stop using, and thus paying, for their services. Come on, we did without AI for all our history, we could live without it with no issue (as to me we could live without smartphones, internet, etc if we want).

we also did without air conditioning, plumbing, democracy, and human rights for millenia, and I wouldn't want to give any of those up

Re: AI companies destroy physical books – let's scan rare books before it's too late

#326

Post by ryandvm »

It seems like it would be well within the charter of the Library of Congress to archive a complete scan of every book published in the United States. At least then we wouldn't lose the information. They can figure out distribution and copyright later.

Re: AI companies destroy physical books – let's scan rare books before it's too late

#327

Post by breezybottom »

dukeyukey wrote: post #187
runarberg wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am thinking about a long essay Icelandic author Þórbergur Þórðarson wrote to his pals abroad, and were left abroad. I am thinking about a photo book by an Indonesian naturalist who is famous on Bali, and took amazing photos of wildlife on Sulawesi in 1926, and colored in, and somehow ended up in New Jersey in the 1980s. I am thinking about a collection of essays written by a teenage J.D. Salinger who he left unsign…

Can you explain why AI companies destroying these is worse than a library or bookseller destroying these?

[flagged]

Re: AI companies destroy physical books – let's scan rare books before it's too late

#328

Post by anon373839 »

eulgro wrote: post #291

We've been seeing that headline for a few weeks now and I really don't understand the problem. Companies are paying for the books now, great! And destroying a book is really the best way to scan it. I could destroy the books I buy myself if I wanted, they're my books and I can do whatever I want with them. A book is really just a stack of paper, I don't get the sacred feeling attached to it. Especially since books ar…

> We've been seeing that headline for a few weeks now and I really don't understand the problem.

It’s powerful symbolism. It reminds me of that tone-deaf iPad ad that sparked outrage in 2024. The one where all the cultural artifacts were crushed in an industrial press to make a soulless slab of glass. And that was Apple, who is generally well-liked by the public.

Re: AI companies destroy physical books – let's scan rare books before it's too late

#329

Post by Filligree »

JohnFen wrote: post #323
RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #313

What often gets missed is that they are buy one physical copy and turning it into a digital copy. They have done zero to destroy the durability. In fact, it’s probably more durable. If the physical copies are scarce, that is due to the publisher and copyright laws and not them buying and converting a single copy.

> turning it into a digital copy. Are they? Or are they just using it for training and not keeping the digital copy afterwards? And even if they are keeping a digital copy, does that actually matter if they never release it?

They are. They can’t release it; that would be copyright infringement. But they’re absolutely planning to make further use of the book later.

Re: AI companies destroy physical books – let's scan rare books before it's too late

#330

Post by geye1234 »

squidbeak wrote: post #304
eulgro wrote: post #291

We've been seeing that headline for a few weeks now and I really don't understand the problem. Companies are paying for the books now, great! And destroying a book is really the best way to scan it. I could destroy the books I buy myself if I wanted, they're my books and I can do whatever I want with them. A book is really just a stack of paper, I don't get the sacred feeling attached to it. Especially since books ar…

> A book is really just a stack of paper, I don't get the sacred feeling attached to it. Especially since books are printed in thousands to millions of identical copies. If you've read the articles covering this issue, you'll be aware the concern is over the fate of rare and out of print books, rather than your straw man (ie those available in 'thousands to millions' of copies). https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp3r…

Presumably, being from the 18th Century, copyright law wouldn't apply?

Detestable if they're doing it anyway to prevent competitors getting hold of it.

Post reply on HN