Links to this 404 Media article about scanning books for AI caught my eye because it implicates ISBNdb, which is one of the services we use in Micro.blog to get book metadata. The article says:
…ISBNdb now helps AI labs source bulk printed book purchases of between 1,000 to 1 million books per order. ISBNdb’s data makes it easier for AI companies to methodically acquire, scan, and turn printed books into training data while avoiding duplication.
I don’t think this is actually a service ISBNdb offers. In fact, I couldn’t find the quotes that 404 Media says are on the ISBNdb website.
I emailed the author to clarify. They did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
While I was waiting, I went searching in the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine. Turns out the quotes attributed to ISBNdb did exist a few weeks ago. ISBNdb removed the pages and added a note on their news blog about it:
ISBNdb has never purchased, scanned, or sold a book - for AI training or anything else. We don’t train AI models, and we never have. The page was a test of market interest; no such service was ever brought to life. We’ve taken the page down. Our job is helping people find books.
Seems like an example of a company thinking about capitalizing on all the interest in AI, then realizing it went too far outside their core business and pulled it back.
