AI isn't doing great on the PR front. Whether it's the exponentially increasing electricity consumption amidst worsening climate change, the data centers leaking toxic pollutants into neighboring communities, or the years-long parade of business leaders insisting the technology will replace humans in "most, if not all" professional fields, the AI industry has an excellent record of inspiring resentment and contempt.
And, it seems, the AI companies know it. New reporting from 404 Media suggests that, in an effort to shield themselves from the PR fallout of their data harvesting, major AI providers have turned to third-party middleman services to anonymously source the physical books they've been stripping for training data at an industrial scale—and destroying in the process.
