Company Offering Printed Books to Train AI Stops After 404 Media Coverage
Citing backlash, ISBNdb removed its webpages about training AI, denied ever buying, scanning, or selling a book for AI training, and said the site was a "test of market interest."
In July, AI-focused book database company ISBNdb faced significant backlash after 404 Media reported on its website offering printed books for AI companies to use in training machine learning models. The company responded by deleting the service page and clarifying that it never purchased, scanned, or sold books for AI training purposes. ISBNdb stated that the removed page was merely a test of market interest and never materialized into an actual service.
The company emphasized its primary mission of providing book metadata services, comparing its role to that of a card catalog in the literary world. ISBNdb has been operating for over two decades, focusing on data about books rather than the books themselves.
The company's stance aimed to address concerns over potential copyright infringements and the environmental impact of destroying books during the scanning process. In January, authors filed a lawsuit against Anthropic, alleging plans to scan and destroy millions of books sourced from Better World Books, a marketplace that connects libraries, retailers, and individuals.
An investigation by the Washington Post revealed that Anthropic had indeed purchased books from Better World Books, raising ethical considerations about the use of these materials for AI training.
Despite the controversy, ISBNdb maintained its original focus on providing book data for legitimate purposes, distancing itself from any activities that could be perceived as harming authors or the environment.
Written by urgent.news from 404 Media's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
