Secondhand booksellers in UK and Ireland suspect AI firms behind ‘strange’ bulk orders
Development comes after Anthropic was found to have spent millions on books to scan for ‘data acquisition’ Secondhand booksellers in the UK and Ireland are reporting a flurry of bulk orders from mystery buyers, amid speculation AI companies are acquiring the tomes for their data. Bookshops contacted by the Guardian say they have been receiving orders from buyers in the US, Canada, continental…
Secondhand booksellers in the UK and Ireland have reported a surge of bulk orders from unknown buyers, sparking speculation that artificial intelligence firms may be acquiring the books to use for data training. The unusual orders, which began three months ago, consist of a haphazard mix of titles with no apparent thematic connection.
Stuart Manley, co-owner of Barter Books, noted that the orders included an Estonian translation of John le Carré's novel and the October 1983 edition of a magazine. Jim Shaughnessy, owner of MW Books in Ireland, described the orders as "sporadic, presumably machine-driven" and expressed confusion over the selection of books. David Gower-Spence, owner of BookLovers of Bath, received about 200 books from three buyers between May and July, with one buyer being a Canada-based company called Zoom Books.
The bookseller cited opaque aliases behind the orders and deliveries to a group of freight warehouses near Heathrow airport. One UK-based bookseller noted that the buyers were paying top prices and requesting books in bulk, causing disruption to the secondhand bookselling business. Despite speculation, Anthropic, an AI company, denied buying and destroying rare or antiquarian books for data acquisition.
The mystery behind the orders continues, with some suggesting AI companies are exploiting secondhand books for training AI models.
Written by urgent.news from Guardian Technology's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
This story
This is one outlet's version. Read the fullest account.
