**Book sellers raise alarm over 'horrific' destruction of rare titles to feed AI**

> Secondhand booksellers believe they may have been caught up in the AI supply chain that sees old books scanned then destroyed A 400-year-old document recording a Spanish Inquisition exorcism at the Antiquariat Forum BV and Inlibris stall at the 2026 Rare Book Fair. Photograph: Christopher Hopkins/The Guardian View image in fullscreen A 400-year-old document recording a Spanish Inquisition exorcism at the Antiquariat Forum BV and Inlibris stall at the 2026 Rare Book Fair. Photograph: Christopher Hopkins/The Guardian AI (artificial intelligence) ‘More than just objects’: Australian book sellers raise alarm over ‘horrific’ destruction of rare titles to feed AI Secondhand booksellers believe they may have been caught up in the AI supply chain that sees old books scanned then destroyed Stephanie Convery Sat 1 Aug 2026 16.00 EDT Last modified on Sat 1 Aug 2026 16.01 EDT Share Prefer the Guardian on Google “S ometimes books tell you more than the content,” says Tim White, as he lines up carefully dust-jacketed books and pamphlets in plastic sleeves on temporary shelves in Melbourne University’s Wilson Hall. He’s preparing his stall for this weekend’s Melbourne Rare Book Fair . For people like White, who runs independent bookshop Books for Cooks, the book as a physical object is just as important as what’s inside it. “We’re interested in where food and society connect … So we just keep pushing the boundaries, looking for things that show unusual aspects of that, things that tell us a bit more about what it is to be human,” he says. “That’s what most of us \[rare booksellers\] do. We handle things that have a story.” View image in fullscreen Tim White of Books for Cooks says the issue raises ‘an interesting tension … If it’s a book that has that storytelling element to it, or it’s a one-off, it’s horrific.’ Photograph: Christopher Hopkins/The Guardian But vendors and rare books experts are increasingly worried that these artefacts may be under threat of destruction by generative AI companies seeking to feed their ravenous technology with new texts. Fears stem from a copyright lawsuit brought against AI company Anthropic in the United States by book authors. Unsealed court files revealed earlier this year that the company was engaging in the practice of “destructive scanning” – buying physical books, slicing off the spines to more efficiently scan the pages, then pulping the remains – and had sought to keep it quiet. The judge ruled this was lawful under US copyright law, as it amounted to “transformative use”. The Melbourne man who loves libraries so much he created his own – and it’s so huge he needs two homes to house it Read more The practice is now understood to be widespread among generative AI companies, and recent reports suggest intermediaries are stepping up to facilitate the process. Australian secondhand booksellers are wondering if they have been caught up in the AI supply chain after they recently experienced waves of orders that did not fit with usual customer patterns. Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads Multiple vendors confirmed to Guardian Australia they had received orders from a Canadian company called Zoom Books, which describes itself as a book recycler. The orders usually came through large secondhand marketplaces like Abebooks or Biblio, where inventory can range from cheap paperbacks to rare, expensive items. Delfina Manor, who runs Good Reading Secondhand Books in Benalla, Victoria , said she received orders from Zoom Books in May amounting to three full boxes, but had to write to the company and ask them not to order in such volume again. “They ordered, paid in advance, and they didn’t q...

**来源信息**
- **来源**：Hacker News：AI 热帖
- **分类**：行业
- **发布时间**：2026-08-02 05:11（北京时间）
- **原文**：[打开原文](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/02/australian-book-sellers-alarm-destruction-rare-titles-ai-supply-chain)