Are AI Companies Really Destroying Books?
Public outcry has erupted over allegations that AI companies are destroying rare books to train their models. However, the article notes that evidence linking specific companies to the destruction of rare texts remains speculative and unverified.
Why it matters
Highlights the tension between rapid AI development and the preservation of cultural and historical artifacts.
Despite the panic online, there are plenty of unanswered questions.
Illustration by Alisa Gao / The Atlantic August 5, 2026, 2:40 PM ET Share Save Last week, the internet raged as social-media posts and news articles accused AI companies of “destroying the world’s books” —including “millions of rare” ones—by chopping off their spines to scan them more easily, and discarding them afterward. One article said the news was “sparking concerns that the last remaining copies of out-of-print texts are being destroyed.” The investor and AI skeptic Michael Burry called the practice of sacrificing rare books “evil incarnate.” Even Elon Musk weighed in, posting that he had asked the engineers training xAI’s models to “preserve any rare books in a library and scan them the hard way.”
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in