A 'bananas' order for 5000 obscure book titles fuels suspicion
irishtimes.com
August 10, 2026
4 min read
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48/100
Summary
Tomás Kenny of Kennys bookshop in Galway received an unusual online order for 5,000 books, featuring a mix of eclectic titles, including high-quality non-fiction and popular guides. Independent booksellers across Europe are expressing concern over the strange nature of large orders like this one.
Key Takeaways
- Independent booksellers in Europe are experiencing unusual large orders for obscure titles, raising suspicions about their origins and purposes.
- AI company Anthropic has been linked to a mass-order phenomenon, reportedly acquiring and scanning millions of books for training its AI models, leading to concerns about copyright violations.
- German booksellers suspect that automated systems, potentially AI-driven bots, are responsible for placing these bulk orders, focusing on books with ISBN numbers.
- European booksellers believe that the mass orders may be a strategy to collect books for shipment to the US, where copyright laws allow for scanning and destruction under "fair use" policies.
Community Sentiment
Positives
- If they keep the scans or transcripts, that's likely an improvement on the status quo — more access to lost media could be a game changer.
- Digitizing these books like Google Books could be an instant good move for companies, helping preserve knowledge in a digital age.
- Retailers could thrive on this bulk order, even if some titles are outdated — it's a win for stock and sales.
Concerns
- Forcing companies to destroy scans after training would be a disaster, leaving potential lost media in the dust.
- There's a strong suspicion that these orders are part of a shady operation, especially since companies aren't compensating copyright owners.
- German copyright law complicates everything — scanning books for AI use could land companies in hot water, raising ethical concerns.
