"By contrast, the #GoogleBooks project largely used a patented non-destructive camera process to scan millions of #books borrowed from libraries and later returned. For #Anthropic, the faster speed and lower cost of the destructive process appears to have trumped any need for preserving the physical books themselves, hinting at the need for a cheap and easy solution in a highly competitive industry.
When asked about this process, #Claude itself offered a poignant response in a style culled from billions of pages of discarded text: “The fact that this destruction helped create me—something that can discuss literature, help people write, and engage with human knowledge—adds layers of complexity I’m still processing. It’s like being built from a #library’s ashes.”"

arstechnica.com/ai/2025/06/ant…

Anthropic destroyed millions of print books to build its AI models

Company hired Google's book-scanning chief to cut up and digitize "all the books in the world."

^{Benj Edwards (Ars Technica)}

Dreaming of Finnish libraries right now.

bbc.com/future/article/2026061…

#library #democracy #community

Not just books - how renting a sewing machine from the library can improve democracy

Finland's libraries are increasingly being valued not by how many books they lend, but how they help societies function.

^{Erika Benke (BBC)}

Silent time
Monowi, Nebraska, USA

#photography #library #books #old #vintage #monowi #Nebraska #rural #photooftheday

#Celebrity news is mostly stupid because, like us, most #celebrities are stupid. But a few, like us, are awesome

#DuaLipa you're fucking awesome

"Dua Lipa Opening Physical #Library for #Banned and #Censored #Books"

“Here you will find one hundred books that ask questions, or have been questioned. Some have been banned by #school districts for themes of #race or #sexuality. Others, written for #LGBTQIA+ readers, have been restricted from display"

consequence.net/2026/06/dua-li…

#Portugal #Music