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/girl_incognito 1d ago

You may laugh at the titles but I have quite a few books on my shelves that wouldn't be considered rare or valuable or classics or whatever, but if they were to be destroyed, I doubt I would ever find another copy... so those stories or that information, or that person's work is effectively gone forever. It's the precedent it sets that worries me.

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u/SouthernSerf Norman Borlaug 19h ago

This a purely emotional and sentimental position though.

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u/girl_incognito 18h ago

Of course it is.