교보에 ‘10만권’, 알라딘 등에도…‘AI 학습 의심’ 대량 매집 잇따라

As artificial intelligence (AI) development firms like Antropic's "Claude" generate controversy by amassing vast book collections for data learning, domestic concerns are also mounting. 교보문고 has received orders for 100,000 books from foreign companies, and internet bookstores like 알라딘 and 예스24 have also experienced massive purchases of secondhand books.

According to 교보문고 sources, orders have come from over a dozen foreign companies based in countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom. These orders exceed 100,000 books in total, despite not specifying which books they wish to purchase. The 교보문고 is concerned about the lack of final delivery verification for these unverified foreign companies.

The company has halted these transactions, citing suspicions. This comes after Antropic's use of a "destruction scanning" method, which involves cutting hundreds of millions of books into pieces and scanning them rapidly using high-speed scanners. The international publishing industry is increasingly wary of AI firms' reckless knowledge theft.

The Frankfurt Book Fair, the world's largest book fair, recently saw a call for legislative action to regulate AI in publishing. They argued that large tech companies are unlawfully using copyrighted works to train AI models without providing compensation. The current lack of a robust system to protect intellectual property leaves publishers with little choice but to be vigilant.

While 알라딘 received a bulk purchase order from a foreign company last month, they declined the offer, deeming it unusual. The company specifically received an email from a Canadian secondhand book buying firm, which requested the purchase of 1,000 million won worth of Korean secondhand books without specifying titles or genres, only requesting a random selection of 100,000 books.

This deal was the company's first purchase and indicated they would continue trading. However, the company's motives remain unclear. 알라딘 believes this is unusual, given the lack of precedent for foreign companies buying large quantities of Korean secondhand books. They promptly rejected the offer, reasoning that they were not aware of Antropic's AI learning case and would likely reject similar proposals in the future.

In response to these concerns, the Korean Publishers' Association (출협) plans to conduct an urgent investigation into the situation. 출협 상무 이사 김현종 stated that the industry's concerns are significant and that a thorough investigation will be conducted, with results shared next week. The goal is to share findings with the government and the National Assembly to push for legislative action to protect copyright.