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Secondhand book sales are booming. Is it because of AI?

Secondhand book sales are booming. Is it because of AI?

Booksellers are reporting mysterious bulk orders. It's thought the books are being used to train AI - and ending up pulped.

August 15, 2026 at 11:25 AM Original source
1 agencies covered this story

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Notable Quotes

"never seen the like of this after 30 years in the second-hand book trade"

— Stuart Manley , Executive

"In some ways it's very nice to sell some of these titles which haven't been sold for many years, but it would be sad if they are ultimately destroyed."

— David Tobin , Executive

"The starting point in the UK is that all these acts of copying - creating the training library and doing the training – require the permission of the copyright owner."

— Professor Emily Hudson , Academic

"Anthropic's use of the authors' books was 'exceedingly transformative' and therefore allowed under US law."

— Judge William Alsup , Other

All Coverage

Secondhand book sales are booming. Is it because of AI?
BBC Newsvia rss 4 quotes 4 persons

Booksellers are reporting mysterious bulk orders. It's thought the books are being used to train AI - and ending up pulped.

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