AI is buying up secondhand books by the thousands — and destroying them

Secondhand book sales are booming. Is it because of AI?

Independent booksellers worldwide report mysterious bulk orders of used books, often shipped to warehouses and destroyed. The culprit appears to be AI companies like Anthropic, which are 'destructively scanning' books to train large language models. A US court ruling allowed this practice, but UK copyright law may differ. Booksellers are torn between the sales boom and ethical concerns over losing rare volumes.