UK urged to demand transparency from AI firms destroying books for training data

AI companies are buying second-hand books at industrial scale, scanning them for model training and destroying the originals, creating an "anti-library" of unknown size. The UK government's consultation on data regulation in the age of AI does not address this practice, the author argues.

• AI firms buy second-hand books in bulk and destroy originals after scanning
• No one tracks how many books disappear from circulation
• DSIT's data regulation consultation omits physical acquisition and destruction
• Author calls for transparency in the book supply chain for AI training