AI Training Suspected Behind Surge in Secondhand Book Sales

Independent booksellers around the globe are noticing a significant increase in large orders of used books, presumably for AI training purposes. Stuart Manley from Barter Books in Northumberland reported receiving a bulk order from a Canadian firm that equaled his weekly sales, a first in his three decades in the industry. This trend follows a 2025 ruling by a US court that permits the use of purchased books for AI training, resulting from a lawsuit by three authors against Anthropic, where Judge William Alsup ruled the practice as 'exceedingly transformative.' Documents revealed that during the training of Anthropic's chatbot Claude, known as 'Project Panama,' books were destroyed. Concerns about potential destruction are voiced by booksellers like David Tobin and Derek Walker, while Professor Emily Hudson points out the differences in UK copyright laws.