Secondhand book sales are booming. Is it because of AI?
bbc.co.uk
August 15, 2026
4 min read
46/100
Summary
Secondhand book sales are experiencing a significant increase, with independent booksellers noting unusual bulk orders being shipped to distant warehouses. Stuart Manley from Barter Books reported a recent single order from a Canadian company that matched his typical weekly sales.
Key Takeaways
- Secondhand book sales have surged, with independent booksellers reporting unusually large bulk orders, suggesting a potential link to AI's demand for training data.
- A US court ruling in 2025 determined that using purchased books to train AI software does not violate copyright law, allowing companies like Anthropic to source books for AI training.
- Anthropic's internal project, referred to as "Project Panama," involves destructively scanning books to digitize them at scale, raising concerns about the destruction of physical books.
- Experts indicate that the diverse range of books being purchased for AI training may include rare and obscure texts, which could enhance the capabilities of generative AI models.
Coverage & discussions
Hacker News · bbc.co.uk
Community discussions
Community Sentiment
Positives
- AI training is driving a resurgence in secondhand book sales, benefiting both bookstores and AI companies—it's a win-win scenario for all involved.
- The bulk orders for training materials indicate a healthy market for quality content, showing there's still valuable material to be mined from printed books.
Concerns
- There's a growing outrage over AI companies destroying physical books to acquire training data, which many see as an offensive act against cultural heritage.
- The legal loopholes allowing the destruction of books for scanning purposes are viewed as morally questionable, raising serious ethical concerns about the future of intellectual property.
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