Podcast Summary:

Welcome, book lovers and tech skeptics, to a troubling new era where artificial intelligence feasts on pirated books while the U.S. government targets public library funding. Recent findings show that AI giants like Meta, OpenAI, and Mistral have used a massive trove of pirated books from Library Genesis (LibGen) to train their models—without compensating authors. Meanwhile, in a shocking policy move, the Trump administration has announced an executive order to dismantle a key funding source for public libraries, threatening access to both physical and digital books. Meta, in particular, took the piracy route despite considering legal licensing, with company emails revealing statements like needing books “ASAP” because they’re "more important than web data" for AI training. Authors like Michael Chabon and Aliette de Bodard are furious, with their copyrighted works now fueling AI models they never agreed to. The war on reading is clearly being waged on two fronts: Big Tech wants free training data, and the government seems content to strip away infrastructure that keeps public knowledge accessible. Hold on, folks—because the battle for books is just getting started.

Key Takeaways:

• Big Tech’s Book Piracy: A database leak shows that Meta, OpenAI, and Mistral have used millions of books from the shadow library LibGen to train AI models—without paying authors.
• Meta’s Internal Emails: Meta staff acknowledged considering legally licensing books but opted instead for piracy, arguing that licensing just one book would undermine their "fair use" legal defense.
• Authors Are Outraged: Writers like Michael Chabon and Aliette de Bodard are discovering that their works were used without permission. De Bodard stated: “All my books are in LibGen, and I’m not happy about it.”
• Trump Administration Cuts Library Funding: A new executive order aims to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a key federal funding source for public libraries.
• Digital Book Access at Risk: Library apps like Libby and Hoopla, which allow users to borrow e-books and audiobooks, could see major cutbacks or disappear entirely if funding disappears.
• Legal Battles Continue: With new lawsuits against AI companies for copyright violations, the legal system has yet to determine whether AI training on pirated books is fair use or outright theft.

The fight for the future of books is underway—between AI companies hungry for free data and governments seemingly indifferent to public access to knowledge. Stay tuned, because this war over words is far from over.
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