Lahore (Web Desk) — To make artificial intelligence (AI) more powerful, major technology companies around the world are using old books, but this process has raised concerns that centuries-old intellectual and cultural heritage could be damaged.
According to a report by British media, some technology companies are purchasing large numbers of old books and rapidly scanning them through advanced machines so that the information contained in them can be used for training AI models.
The report stated that after the scanning process is completed, original copies of some books are also being discarded, raising questions about the preservation of rare and historical literature.
Sources said that this project began around two years ago when, in February 2024, a major AI company assigned an expert the responsibility of collecting as many books as possible from around the world.
Experts have warned that if these books include historically, rarely, or culturally significant manuscripts, their destruction could become a major loss for human knowledge and civilization’s heritage.
According to experts, AI companies are particularly searching for books published before 2022 because their content mainly consists of human-written material, which is considered valuable for training artificial intelligence systems.