Losing Our Literature

In a world where AI models are now being trained with antique and rare books, bought in bulk where possible, which are then being destroyed after (for what reason, who knows—maybe so AI can be “credited” for “writing original content” later on), I am so grateful I made the decision to return to school to continue studying literature. I am hopeful to work in manuscript preservation, historical documentation, textbook publishing, and literary compilation. Now, more than ever, it is so important to preserve these treasures we have. These written words, no matter how ancient or outdated they may seem to some, are important as they hold something technology can never emulate or replace: humanity. They hold the depths of what makes us human. They tell us about a society that’s passed; what people were like, what they wore, how they interacted with each other and the world. Perhaps these writings would cause us to realize we’re losing touch with something important, a sense of community and interconnectedness we no longer experience. Perhaps they would awaken a sort of spiritual divinity within each of us that has been lost as we’ve lost our direct connection to nature in much of the world.

Whatever the reason for destroying this literature, it is a tragedy. It is akin to book burning, except, in many cases, it is the destruction of the one and only copy (or all the available copies) of these specific texts. Meaning no one will ever be able to read them again, save for the few people who nabbed a copy for their personal collections. And why? All so AI could be trained via the knowledge, creativity, and culture of human beings. Why the destruction both pre and post-uploading, though? This is the real area of concern. It means that those in charge of these AI systems (CEOs/company owners) want us to lose access to the original works. Will we eventually reach a place where every time a writer wants to publish a book through a publishing company their book will be fed into AI and “rewritten” to meet some sort of new standard with their original work destroyed, and in turn, the AI version will be the one distributed and sold, leaving the original work completely destroyed and human creativity removed from it? There’s a lot to consider about what this means for the literary industry, the art community, the history community, and humanity as a whole. We must, we must value the power and impact of the written word, how it can shape us and the world around us, how it can reflect who we are and what the world is at any given time. 

Source: https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-companies-destroying-rare-books