Secondhand booksellers in UK and Ireland suspect AI firms behind 'strange' bulk orders
Guardian AU Business
β’Sat, 15 Aug 2026 08:00:51 GMT
π° What Happened
Secondhand booksellers in the UK and Ireland report a wave of bulk orders from mystery buyers. They suspect AI companies are buying the books for their data. The orders come from buyers in the US, Canada, continental Europe and the UK. Similar unusual orders have been seen in the US, Australia and Europe. One shop owner said a recent order mixed many random books with no clear theme.
π The Backstory
Booksellers describe the orders as strange because they do not follow normal patterns. Usually a book order follows a theme, like sport or motoring. These orders mix random titles from all over. The speculation follows a report that Anthropic spent millions on books to scan for data acquisition. Co-owner Stuart Manley sold hundreds of random books to three buyers for about Β£4,000. He thinks lots of AI money is behind the purchases.
π― Why It Matters
AI models need massive amounts of text to learn from. Bulk book buying shows how AI companies gather data, and it raises questions about who owns that data and how books are used.
Secondhand booksellers in the UK and Ireland report a wave of bulk orders from mystery buyers. They suspect AI companies are buying the books for their data. The orders come from buyers in the US, Canada, continental Europe and the UK. Similar unusual orders have been seen in the US, Australia and Europe. One shop owner said a recent order mixed many random books with no clear theme.
Booksellers describe the orders as strange because they do not follow normal patterns. Usually a book order follows a theme, like sport or motoring. These orders mix random titles from all over. The speculation follows a report that Anthropic spent millions on books to scan for data acquisition. Co-owner Stuart Manley sold hundreds of random books to three buyers for about Β£4,000. He thinks lots of AI money is behind the purchases.
AI models need massive amounts of text to learn from. Bulk book buying shows how AI companies gather data, and it raises questions about who owns that data and how books are used.