For those just learning about LibGen because of the reporting on Meta and other companies training LLMs on pirated books, I’d highly recommend the book Shadow Libraries (open access: https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-edited-volume/3600/Shadow-LibrariesAccess-to-Knowledge-in-Global).

I just read it while working on the Wikipedia article about shadow libraries, and it’s a fascinating history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_library

I fear the already fraught conversations about shadow libraries will take a turn for the worse now that it’s overlapping with the incredibly fraught conversations about AI training.

#AI #LibGen #OpenAccess

Newsletter: The real threat isn't AI using open knowledge — it's AI companies killing the projects that make knowledge free. The future of free and open access isn't saying “wait, not like that” — it’s saying "yes, like that, but under fair terms”.

https://www.citationneeded.news/free-and-open-access-in-the-age-of-generative-ai/

#OpenAccess #AI #Wikipedia

“Wait, not like that”: Free and open access in the age of generative AI

The real threat isn’t AI using open knowledge — it’s AI companies killing the projects that make knowledge free

^{Molly White (Citation Needed)}