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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Matt O'Brien

AI chatbots need more books to learn from. These libraries are opening their stacks

AI Data Libraries - (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Everything ever said on the internet was just the start of teaching artificial intelligence about humanity. Tech companies are now tapping into an older repository of knowledge: the library stacks.

Nearly one million books published as early as the 15th century — and in 254 languages — are part of a Harvard University collection being released to AI researchers Thursday. Also coming soon are troves of old newspapers and government documents held by Boston's public library.

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