In the margins of old books, what AI cannot replace

The LLMs are hungry and solely huge portions of books can fulfill their urge for food. This, in response to second-hand booksellers within the UK, is why the gross sales of pre-owned books are seeing a sudden surge. The information follows the latest revelations about AI firm Anthropic’s mysterious “Project Panama”, which entails the large-scale shopping for and scanning of books, largely second-hand — mockingly, as a result of the AI slop flooding the web has rendered it a low-quality supply of data and data.

The truth that books of any form are being purchased in such numbers whereas the publishing business is in a droop could appear, on the face of it, like excellent news. Look intently and it stands revealed as a false comfort. For, AI can solely eat books via “harmful” scanning, a course of that requires the spines of books to be ripped off in order that the pages will be quickly scanned and the stays recycled. This digitisation by digestion is an unlucky destiny for books amongst which, within the phrases of Virginia Woolf, one may encounter a “full stranger” who may turn into “the very best pal we’ve on this planet”.

As a result of that has, for lengthy, been the primary enchantment of second-hand books. Collectors are proper concerning the charms of outdated, yellowing pages and their distinctive odor, in addition to the revelatory great thing about marginalia. It is usually true that the second-hand e-book business was democratising data lengthy earlier than AI. However to flick thru books as soon as prized by others and to search out amongst them a brand new love of 1’s personal has a particular attract. At a time when algorithms are figuring out what’s seen and what’s ignored, second-hand books maintain out the more and more uncommon promise of serendipity.