Antiquarians report unusual bulk orders, raising alarms about AI firms potentially training their systems on rare books.

Antiquarian booksellers are experiencing a surge in strange online orders, particularly for unsold inventory. Urban Zerfaß, a Berlin-based dealer specializing in academic literature, has noted a spike in requests for obscure secondary literature, often placed at night and shipped to Canada.

These orders, often involving significant shipping costs compared to the book prices, have led to suspicions that AI companies are behind the purchases to train their algorithms. Reports suggest that some books may be destroyed after digitization, raising ethical concerns among booksellers.