Elon Musk bans destruction of rare books for AI training

It was revealed that some companies developing artificial intelligence technologies have been massively purchasing rare books published before 2022 to train their models, completely destroying them during the digitization process. Amid sharp public criticism over this situation, billionaire Elon Musk expressed his stance and made a decisive move, according to Ixbt.com reports .

According to Ixbt.com, Elon Musk instructed the SpaceXAI team to abandon the practice of physically destroying rare books for training AI models. He emphasized that such an approach is disrespectful to cultural heritage, and preserving original copies must remain a priority in the future.

The problem of mass destruction of rare editions

Recently, demand for older publications with high text quality, untainted by artificial intelligence, has surged among modern tech companies. To achieve this, they used special tools to buy old books in bulk and employed high-speed scanning machines.

These devices are designed to cut off book bindings and read pages one by one, leaving valuable originals shredded beyond repair by the end of the process. Through special services, including ISBNdb, buyers were able to order up to one million books while keeping their identities anonymous.

Alternative solution proposed by Elon Musk

According to the new approach promoted by Elon Musk, digital copies necessary for AI training can be obtained using traditional scanning methods without damaging the books. This not only ensures the technological process but also guarantees the preservation of original books of historical and cultural significance.

As part of this initiative, all original copies will be carefully preserved in specialized libraries. Experts believe this approach serves as an important step in maintaining a balance between modern technological progress and cultural heritage preservation.