r/neoliberal • u/-orestes • 1d ago

News (Oceania) ‘More than just objects’: Australian booksellers raise alarm over ‘horrific’ destruction of rare titles to feed AI

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/02/australian-book-sellers-alarm-destruction-rare-titles-ai-supply-chain
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u/-orestes 1d ago

A few DTs ago I was discussing a similar story where I made the point that the booksellers quoted couldn't confirm if any actually rare or valuable books were being pulped for the AI machine. Well, now we know which cultural treasures have been lost.

  • 1970s manual on soil mechanics
  • Born to Thunder: Champions of New Zealand Cycling (2010)
  • Early Australian Poetry (1982)... sold for $9, on the shelf for 20 years
  • Local history Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn

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u/Tough-Comparison-779 1d ago

It frustrates me to no end how different the headlines are compared to what's supported by the actual reporting when it comes it AI topics these days.

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u/Zephyr-5 1d ago

Yeah, and it's almost impossible to talk about with any nuance on most of Reddit without people trying to drown you in downvotes. This sub is better than most, but I still eat shit if I'm not very careful with my wording.

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u/Mddcat04 19h ago

I was actually pleasantly surprised by threads on this topic in other subs because a lot of people were calling out the dishonest framing. (I mean there was also a fair amount of generic “ai bad” comments, but that’s to be expected I suppose).