‘More than just objects’: Australian book sellers raise alarm over ‘horrific’ destruction of rare titles to feed AI

AI's hunger for data is now consuming rare books and booksellers are cashing in

AI firms bulk-purchase rare books (millions per order), scan for LLM training, destroy originals—targeting pre-2022 clean data. Exposes training-data quality as a foundation-model differentiator, validating premium-dataset pricing and reshaping LLM procurement—while escalating IP/regulatory risks.