Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Strip-mining the world of old books
This episode written by Amy Castor and David Gerard
pivot-to-ai.com/2026/07/23/ai-vendors-are-destroying-rare-books-to-feed-the-chatbot - blog post
Patreon: patreon.com/davidgerard
Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/A1529D5
Buy us nice useful things (if not in the UK, set the delivery postcode to SW1A 0AA): amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/3Q8VZW46J6DM6
Get an extremely cool Pivot to AI shirt or mug: pivot-to-ai.redbubble.com
Send in your story tips: dgerard@gmail.com
Sources:
Order on Fair Use (PDF) storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.434709/gov.uscourts.cand.434709.231.0_1.pdf
Inside an AI start-up’s plan to scan and dispose of millions of books washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/01/27/anthropic-ai-scan-destroy-books
Zoom blog (archive) web.archive.org/web/20260622203623/https://zoombooks.ca/blogs/category/ai-training-books
Zoom Books Responds To Accusations of Selling Books For AI Scraping lunch.publishersmarketplace.com/2026/05/zoom-books-responds-to-accusations-of-selling-books-for-ai-scraping
AI Companies Are Buying Tons of Old Books Because They're Free of AI Slop 404media.co/ai-companies-are-buying-tons-of-old-books-because-theyre-free-of-ai-slop
How Authors Are Fighting Back Against AI Training, And What It Means for Your Data Strategy isbndb.com/blog/ai-training-data-poisoning
The Receipt is the New License: Print Books Sourcing for AI Training isbndb.com/blog/print-books-sourcing-ai-training
Recovering After Gen AI Webinars stopgenai.com/mymeeting
Previously on Pivot to AI:
Anthropic AI wins broad fair use for training! — but not on pirated books pivot-to-ai.com/2025/06/24/anthropic-wins-broad-fair-use-for-training-but-not-on-pirated-books
video: youtube.com/watch?v=MwoScPzTWiA&list=UU9rJrMVgcXTfa8xuMnbhAEA
Anthropic AI pays off authors with just $1.5 billion pivot-to-ai.com/2025/09/07/anthropic-ai-pays-off-authors-with-just-1-5-billion
video: youtube.com/watch?v=14Tr930opuI&list=UU9rJrMVgcXTfa8xuMnbhAEA
Full Pivot to AI playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=UU9rJrMVgcXTfa8xuMnbhAEA
Audio-only podcast: pivottoai.libsyn.com
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pivot-to-ai/id1844698298
Image: stock illustration by Studiostoks
Strip-mining the world of old books
This episode written by Amy Castor and David Gerard
pivot-to-ai.com/2026/07/23/ai-vendors-are-destroying-rare-books-to-feed-the-chatbot - blog post
Patreon: patreon.com/davidgerard
Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/A1529D5
Buy us nice useful things (if not in the UK, set the delivery postcode to SW1A 0AA): amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/3Q8VZW46J6DM6
Get an extremely cool Pivot to AI shirt or mug: pivot-to-ai.redbubble.com
Send in your story tips: dgerard@gmail.com
Sources:
Order on Fair Use (PDF) storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.434709/gov.uscourts.cand.434709.231.0_1.pdf
Inside an AI start-up’s plan to scan and dispose of millions of books washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/01/27/anthropic-ai-scan-destroy-books
Zoom blog (archive) web.archive.org/web/20260622203623/https://zoombooks.ca/blogs/category/ai-training-books
Zoom Books Responds To Accusations of Selling Books For AI Scraping lunch.publishersmarketplace.com/2026/05/zoom-books-responds-to-accusations-of-selling-books-for-ai-scraping
AI Companies Are Buying Tons of Old Books Because They're Free of AI Slop 404media.co/ai-companies-are-buying-tons-of-old-books-because-theyre-free-of-ai-slop
How Authors Are Fighting Back Against AI Training, And What It Means for Your Data Strategy isbndb.com/blog/ai-training-data-poisoning
The Receipt is the New License: Print Books Sourcing for AI Training isbndb.com/blog/print-books-sourcing-ai-training
Recovering After Gen AI Webinars stopgenai.com/mymeeting
Previously on Pivot to AI:
Anthropic AI wins broad fair use for training! — but not on pirated books pivot-to-ai.com/2025/06/24/anthropic-wins-broad-fair-use-for-training-but-not-on-pirated-books
video: youtube.com/watch?v=MwoScPzTWiA&list=UU9rJrMVgcXTfa8xuMnbhAEA
Anthropic AI pays off authors with just $1.5 billion pivot-to-ai.com/2025/09/07/anthropic-ai-pays-off-authors-with-just-1-5-billion
video: youtube.com/watch?v=14Tr930opuI&list=UU9rJrMVgcXTfa8xuMnbhAEA
Full Pivot to AI playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=UU9rJrMVgcXTfa8xuMnbhAEA
Audio-only podcast: pivottoai.libsyn.com
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pivot-to-ai/id1844698298
Image: stock illustration by Studiostoks
