1 week ago
Groups Urge FTC Probe Into AI Firms Destroying Books
More than a dozen groups want the United States government to examine how some AI companies get books for training their computer systems.
They say companies may buy books, scan them and destroy the physical copies.
This could make some books unavailable to other AI developers.
It might also make it more expensive for smaller companies to compete.
The groups are especially worried about rare or out-of-print books.
They are asking about competition, not asking the government to stop AI training.
Their request follows reports that Anthropic scanned and recycled millions of books in Project Panama.
The Federal Trade Commission has not said whether it will investigate.
More than a dozen civil-society groups asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate AI companies’ acquisition and destruction of books.
The coalition says the practice could remove source material, raise costs for smaller competitors and give large AI firms exclusive datasets.
The request focuses on possible competition harms under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, not on restricting AI training.
The appeal follows disclosures that Anthropic destructively scanned millions of books through an effort called Project Panama.
The Federal Trade Commission has not announced whether it will open an investigation.
- Who
- More than a dozen civil-society organizations, including Demand Progress Education Fund, Consumer Federation of America and Institute for Local Self-Reliance, asked the Federal Trade Commission to act; Anthropic is cited in related disclosures.
- What
- The organizations urged an investigation into whether AI companies’ purchase, scanning and destruction of books is an unfair method of competition.
- Where
- The request concerns the United States and was reported from Washington.
- When
- The article does not specify when the request was submitted; it says the appeal followed disclosures and court records reported earlier this year.
- Why
- The coalition says destroying books could remove source material, raise costs for emerging competitors and give dominant AI companies control of surviving digital copies.
Key facts
- Requesting groups
- More than a dozen civil-society organizations, including Demand Progress Education Fund, Consumer Federation of America and Institute for Local Self-Reliance
- Agency asked to act
- United States Federal Trade Commission
- Legal basis cited
- Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act
- Practice under scrutiny
- Buying, scanning and physically destroying books used to train AI models
- Company mentioned
- Anthropic
- Related effort
- Project Panama, an internal effort to obtain written material for AI-model training
- FTC response
- The Federal Trade Commission had not announced whether it would open an investigation
Quotes
The coalition of civil-society organisations
Organisations requesting an FTC investigation into AI companies’ book acquisition practices
“Unlike a standard data acquisition strategy, this hoard-and-destroy practice could serve as yet another structural mechanism to raise rival companies’ costs and deny start-ups and fledgling competitors a key source material essential to competing in the AI marketplace.”
thehansindia.com
“We urge the FTC to view this practice not in isolation but rather as the latest escalation in a documented pattern of anticompetitive conduct designed to create an insurmountable systemic moat around AI incumbents.”
thehansindia.com
Sources
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