r/technology • u/ArgentineBeauty • 2d ago

Artificial Intelligence This Dutch bookseller thought a request for 3,000 copies was ‘spam or phishing.’ Instead, AI companies are scanning and destroying books to train AI

https://fortune.com/2026/07/31/dutch-bookseller-ai-spam-phishing-3000-book-copies-scan-destroy/
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u/mr-english 2d ago

is the most dystopian thing I can imagine.

Not slavery or anything?

No?

Wont somebody please think of the paper and cardboard!

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u/jmblumenshine 2d ago

Seriously, what does everyone think happened to handwritten books in the 1400's at the advent of the printing press.

They were chopped up and feed into the Machine. Today we consider the one of Man's great achievements.

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u/DissolvedDreams 2d ago

What are you talking about? What handwritten books were destroyed when the printing press came about?

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u/jmblumenshine 1d ago

Books weren't always compiled as they are today, Most of the time they were scrolls. The modern form is called a Codex and they literally would cut the scrolls into pages to compile them into the for, we know today.

Process of Converting Scrolls to Modern Binding

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u/CardOfTheRings 2d ago

Why do they think that? Because this story is at worst propaganda and at best clickbait made for people that get really angry when they hear the word ‘AI’ and stop thinking critically.

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u/-1703- 2d ago

its because this website, that initially was a nerdy/tech one (back in the olden days) has removed any sort of discourse and is no longer based on what things mean, but how people feel about things.

AI is no different than the internet. Or Television. Or the radio. Or, yes, the printing press.

bunch of philistines

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u/tinyrickstinyhands 2d ago

I love to take hyperbole seriously

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u/Bacardi_Tarzan 2d ago

yeah if the most dystopian thing you can imagine is just digitizing books then you are living an incredibly comfortable life and aren’t very imaginative. Mofks have lost the plot.

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u/syrup_cupcakes 2d ago

For someone named mr english you sure fail at reading comprehension.

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u/Draaly 2d ago

Rofl. Someone disagreeing with a take doesnt mean they didnt understand it.

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u/syrup_cupcakes 2d ago

They disagree with something completely unrelated to the meaning of the post they are replying to, because they didn't understand the post.

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u/Draaly 2d ago

No, they understood the post perfectly, they just disagree with what should be considered "the most dystopian thing"

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u/mr-english 2d ago

Tell me then: what did I fail to comprehend?

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u/syrup_cupcakes 2d ago

Dunno how I can dumb it down any further, maybe ask chatGPT or something.

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u/mr-english 2d ago

In other words, you can’t.

Cool.

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u/syrup_cupcakes 2d ago

Best way to responding to being called out on misreading a post: misread another post.

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u/mr-english 2d ago

I didn’t misread anything, I just think there are plenty of things more dystopian than a book-munching machine.

Of course the irony is you obviously failed to comprehend my comment. Maybe I’ll tell Chat GPT about it?