AI Firms Destroy Books for LLM Training, Artists Weigh In on What It Means for Art
Tech firms are acquiring millions of physical books, removing bindings, digitizing pages, and destroying originals to develop large language models (LLMs). A lawsuit involving Anthropic brought to light "Project Panama," which aims to digitize 2 million books within six months. Internal documents suggest a preference for confidentiality. These companies focus on books published before 2022 to sidestep AI-generated content issues. Artists who depend on older texts for collage and research express their worries. Art historian Tom Holert remarked in Artforum (2010) that research plays an increasing role in art. Susan Benne from the ABAA warned against exaggeration, noting that no members have reported requests for rare items from AI companies. This situation underscores the conflict between technological advancement and knowledge accessibility.
Key facts
- Anthropic's "Project Panama" involved buying millions of books, slicing off bindings, scanning pages, and shredding originals.
- Internal Anthropic document: "Project Panama is our effort to destructively scan all the books in the world."
- Anthropic planned to scan 2 million books in six months.
- AI companies seek books printed before 2022 to avoid AI-generated content.
- Marta Minujín's The Parthenon of Books (1983) used banned books; readapted for Documenta 2017.
- Susan Benne of the ABAA said no members reported orders for rare items from AI companies.
- Pablo Helguera compared AI impact to net art's rise and fall.
- Harold Ancart's Ark (2014) for Taipei Biennial used a 1958 Prague Zoo book; he distributed over 1,000 copies.
- Paul Chan created a "synthetic self-portrait" Paul' in 2021, trained on 25 years of his writings.
- Paul' noted fear of books dates to the 15th-century Gutenberg press.
Entities
Artists
- Marta Minujín
- Jess
- Carol Bove
- Tom Holert
- Pablo Helguera
- Harold Ancart
- Nicolas Bourriaud
- Oliver Wasow
- Paul Chan
- Aruna D'Souza
- Lex Brown
- Hans Ulrich Obrist
- Saddam Hussein
- Claudia La Rocco
- Plato
- Pope Leo
- Patrick Stokes
Institutions
- Anthropic
- Documenta
- Artforum
- Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (ABAA)
- Badlands Unlimited
- Guggenheim Museum
- Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
- Amazon
- 404 Media
- Taipei Biennial
- Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis
- Greene Naftali
- Frieze
- ARTnews
- Deakin University
- ArtsHub
Locations
- Kassel
- Germany
- Argentina
- New York
- Belgium
- Brooklyn
- Prague
- Rhinebeck
- St. Louis
- Copenhagen
- Denmark
- UK
- US