August 16, 2026

Even Elon Musk opposes AI firms ‘shredding’ rare books to train LLMs — now, the world’s largest book database denies aiding them

a close up of a computer circuit board
Mathew Schwartz / Unsplash

A growing backlash against a potential hidden supply chain behind AI training has book lovers and sellers grappling with the cost of turning printed knowledge into machine intelligence.