AI developed by companies like Meta have gobbled up millions upon millions of books from piracy sites.
Its a bad time if you love reading.
Recently the site released its findings alongsidea toolfor searching through the archive of millions upon millions of pirated works.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg shows off Llama AI features on its AR glasses during Meta Connect 2024.© David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
It includes nearly 7.5 million books and 81 million academic papers, according to The Atlantics report.
While it contains a hoard of copyrighted material, that belies its actual benefits to society.
Library Genesis has also been used by scientists toaccess academic workswithout paying exorbitant fees to publishers.
© Bluesky / Michael Livingston
Gizmodo reached out to Meta for comment, but we did not immediately hear back.
We also asked Mistral and OpenAI to comment on its use of LibGen.
These datasets, created by former employees who are no longer with OpenAI, were last used in 2021.
Keith Sonderling, U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee as the Deputy Secretary of Labor and acting director of the IMLS. © Win McNamee / Getty Images)
Sites likeThe Vergehave already covered Metas plans to use LibGen in an effort to beat OpenAI and Mistral.
On March 14, Trump issued an executive order that wouldeffectively killthe Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Hoopla Digital President Jeff Jankowski toldNPRthat without federal funding some libraries may scale back or kill their digital services.
Musk and DOGE seem to thinkreplacing fired staff with AIwill somehow make the government more efficient.
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Meta Pissed Off Everyone With Poorly Redacted Docs
Meta is being very transparent on accident.
