AI companies are shredding rare books
AI companies are bulk-buying rare books, scanning them through high-speed machines that cut the spines off, and shredding the originals. A service called ISBNdb facilitates orders of up to a million books and keeps buyers anonymous. A federal judge ruled the practice is fair use because eliminating the original means only one copy exists at a time. Anthropic hired the former head of Google Books partnerships to obtain "all the books in the world."
Hedgie (@HedgieMarkets): "🦔AI companies are bulk-buying rare books, scanning them through high-speed machines that cut the spines off, and shredding the originals. A service called ISBNdb facilitates orders of up to a million books and keeps buyers anonymous. Pre-2022 books are premium because they're free of AI-generated text. A federal judge ruled the practice is fair use because eliminating the original means only one copy exists at a time. Anthropic hired the former head of Google Books partnerships to obtain "all the books in the world."
My Take This got to me. A bookseller told 404 Media that rare books with almost no surviving copies are being fed into this pipeline. Books that survived wars, fires, and centuries of handling are being shredded so an AI can learn to write a better marketing email. ISBNdb's website literally says "'AI company destroys two million books' is not a headline that generates sympathy," and they still built an entire business around making it happen quietly. They offer NDAs as a feature. They coach clients to call it "digital preservation."
I've covered AI companies scraping the internet, torrenting libraries, and stealing music. This is worse because it's irreversible. You can re-upload a website. You can reprint a bestseller. You can't replace the last three copies of an 18th-century botanical text once someone shreds them for training data. And the judge said it's legal. So it's going to accelerate. "We shred rare books and offer NDAs so nobody finds out" is a legitimate business model in 2026. What a timeline.
Hedgie🤗" | XCancel
@HedgieMarkets
12h
🦔AI companies are bulk-buying rare books, scanning them through high-speed machines that cut the spines off, and shredding the originals. A service called ISBNdb facilitates orders of up to a million books and keeps buyers anonymous. Pre-2022 books are premium because they're free of AI-generated text. A federal judge ruled the practice is fair use because eliminating the original means only one copy exists at a time. Anthropic hired the former head of Google Books partnerships to obtain "all the books in the world."
My Take This got to me. A bookseller told 404 Media that rare books with almost no surviving copies are being fed into this pipeline. Books that survived wars, fires, and centuries of handling are being shredded so an AI can learn to write a better marketing email. ISBNdb's website literally says "'AI company destroys two million books' is not a headline that generates sympathy," and they still built an entire business around making it happen quietly. They offer NDAs as a feature. They coach clients to call it "digital preservation."
I've covered AI companies scraping the internet, torrenting libraries, and stealing music. This is worse because it's irreversible. You can re-upload a website. You can reprint a bestseller. You can't replace the last three copies of an 18th-century botanical text once someone shreds them for training data. And the judge said it's legal. So it's going to accelerate. "We shred rare books and offer NDAs so nobody finds out" is a legitimate business model in 2026. What a timeline.
Hedgie🤗
Jul 27, 2026 · 12:18 AM UTC
1,163
9,278
16,507
748,229
Sort replies: Relevant Recent Liked
@Martin00016GT
1h
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
Glenn’s right again. Buy hard copies before they vanish, he said. @glennbeck
1,491
@aHouse0fPrayer
21m
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
Father, Make it stop. "And I will. I will stop it. I AM THE LORD."
53
@thinkingfejlgk
3h
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
So basically a judge ordered that you must shred any book that you scan? The killer of Iryna walking free, Shiloh busted for filming a child molester—is there any atrocity judges won’t commit?
8
1,871
@bjdavis0001
48m
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
It is equivalent to book burning in the past. A form of thought control
1,604
@TheOneBobEaston
3h
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
READ: "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury dn790000.ca.archive.org/0/it…
1
187
@KassieTroy
1h
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
I don't suppose they can lay their hands on the most precious books, which are in museums and churches.
1
1
4
252
@GregHar98953592
9h
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
Shades of Fahrenheit 451.
1
88
1h
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
NDA's as they burn the modern version of the library of Alexandria. Shameful.
1
405
@loco4liberty
1h
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
And they can change a few words on the “new” digital copy and no one notices.
183
@shiiit_code
2h
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
Knowledge is getting transferered from one source to another , no doubt it’s wrong but the big player have holding on everything.
1,929
@mybluedog57
4h
Replying to @HedgieMarkets @naomirwolf
It’s like a cashless society-a bookless society. Become your own preservationist.
102
@HERCULES_117
4h
Replying to @HedgieMarkets @lafemme_nikkita
Imagine they get their hands on some old scrolls, copy and burn them to keep them 1-to-1.
Are we sure this is happening with artifact tier books?
4
1,779
@Flatearthmachi
4h
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
A new form of burning books and we know what happens once the books are burn ... history has it that civilizations fall...
1
1,465
@Insolent_Villag
5h
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
Half of everything about this timeline is crazy depressing and the other half is super cool future stuff. It's a hell of a rollercoaster.
2
481
@DippityToo
24m
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
To be fair, the US government has been doing this to books since the 1980s.
1
108
@RobertMVanPraag
4h
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
🤬
336
@lee26806
6h
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
Doing this allows you to rewrite history and unless you have an original, there is no way of telling. 1984 anyone?
3
1,032
@MehmetDerSaadet
4h
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
Should be criminalized. If AI is not good enough to scan a book without preserving its physical integrity, what good is it>
1
150
9h
Replying to @HedgieMarkets @El__Bohemio
@glennbeck Had a plan for this - both a digital archive & retention of the important & rare physical books. 👍
1
1
31
2h
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
Scan the whole book? From cover page to index? Presumably digitise Proof read before shredding? How does this help to "train an AI "?
1
1,144
9h
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
Imagine the human scum that work for, promote and make money off of such schemes?
2
467
@Lox337Fox
9h
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
Whats even more bleak is that this post was written by AI too
3
503
9h
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
This is why I’ve been saying we all need to start physical rare and out of print book collections.
2
584
@ajronald
4h
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
Are they scanning Vatican archives too?
39
6h
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
This is one thing that gets to me. So disgusting...
Is there any way I could find rare books to preserve? I don't currently have the means but might soon.
1
1
790
@3mk4y_
4h
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
Shredding books for legal reasons is something you'd only see from a criminal.
1
59
@rasmatasma
1h
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
Getting ready for the reset. Leave no evidence like the resets before it did. As George Carlin said "Well, maybe a little Styrofoam."
183
@TheOneBobEaston
2h
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
"Pre-2022 books are premium because they're free of AI-generated text." How far back do we have to go to get pre-woke books? 1st Edition print maybe ...?
1
148
9h
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
What other new ways can I learn to hate these people?
2
50
@Jam3sRyanTaylor
6h
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
So we should all stop using AI right or at least @AnthropicAI @claudeai right @HedgieMarkets. So did they not erase enough history with killing all the old people with covid now they gotta get rid of all the books too
3
1,145
@space_lion_x
26m
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
I agree we should not destroy rare books. But, can’t the AI be asked to present the full text upon request? That seems like it should be reasonable, especially if a book in question has no copyright.
2
1
880
@NoOneHasSpoken
6h
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
And once they control the only ‘copy’ of everything - who will be able to stop them from changing history? 🤔
2
75
4h
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
So, even though they're a pain to store in my small house, I shall be hanging on to my 1920s British encyclopedias, Books of Knowledge volumes 1 to 8, old royal Jubilee tomes and a number more.
2
1,705
10h
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
Whoever's the library(s) should have a policy to not sell books that have few or no other known copies to begin with. Can't they do that without having to wait for the government?
3
1,268
8h
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
Ugh disgusting. Not sure when destroying original literature has ever benefited society. Why couldn’t they take pictures of the pages? This seems wholly unnecessary and destructive.
2
1,971
@MichaelTontchev
25m
Replying to @HedgieMarkets
Why would they shred centuries old books? Those are public domain
34
Load more