“If you don’t use AI you’re going to get left behind.”

Gosh, I sure hope so. I see where you’re going and it sucks.

The People's Bookshelf in the National Library of Latvia showcases 8,000 books from around the world, each with a message from the donor about why that book is special to them. https://tautasgramatuplaukts.lv/en/ via @metafilter

When the cataloger of our fabulous new miniature books collection comes by and asks, “Do you want to see something pretty?” you say yes.

Apparently there's an AI company that offered an free one-year trial to anyone with a .edu address, and now that the year is ending is writing them all to say that if they want to continue access to write to the library and get them to pay for it (either implying, or people are misreading, that the library was paying and is now cutting them off.)

Nice to see that the "first one's free" approach drug dealers are known for is still a vibrant economic model.

A tour-de-force "backless binding" without a spine that according to the bookseller was a showcase of the binder's skill and actually kind of a pain to read. https://www.olsonrarebooks.com/books/p/backless-bindings

“Really bound the two halves of my shoe together. A+ would lace again.”

I am from Mntehmon, and you are going to have to show me that AI produces gibberish. https://gizmodo.com/which-ai-chatbot-did-this-school-use-to-make-such-a-ridiculous-map-2000800045

Sir John Fenwick was beheaded in 1697 for plotting the overthrow and assassination of William III. The Crown seized his estate after the execution, including a horse. William died in 1702 after being thrown from that same horse, an amazing trick if you can pull it off.

The horse is said to have stumbled over a molehill, leading William's Jacobite enemies to begin toasting "To the little gentleman in black velvet." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_John_Fenwick,_3rd_Baronet

Gizmodo asks “Will We Ever Solve the Problem of Losing Data?”

I love this answer: “I know of one data storage form that can be permanent: a library. Or rather, a world full of libraries. Libraries aren’t perfect storage devices (nothing is), but they are fiercely committed to self-repair. A good library is a collection of people, technologies, and practices that pass an obligation—to remember the things we must remember—from the last generation to the next.”
https://gizmodo.com/will-we-ever-solve-the-problem-of-losing-data-2000792386 #libraries

There’s a newly launched drive to unionize Harvard’s professional librarians and when the organizers asked us what issues we might want them to address, I said I wanted protection against being required to incorporate AI hallucinations in my work, a profound violation of my professional ethics. https://aftermath.site/ai-resistance-tips-workforce-llm-workers/

Fly Ergles Fly

Oh, yeah, he’s in there too.

15 fascinating minutes of dot com bubble-era TV commercials. Flooz! eToys! Kozmo! https://youtu.be/ZrJy025iRjg

Apparently the quote was shocking enough they've rewritten the post, but IA has the receipts. https://web.archive.org/web/20260720152647/https://isbndb.com/blog/print-books-sourcing-ai-training/

As someone who has devoted his career to celebrating and preserving the artifactual, tangible value of books, this feels like a knife in the gut.

From the website of the company that’s destroying books to feed them into the ravenous AI maw.

“A physical book is a delivery mechanism for information. Once that information has been extracted and encoded into an AI model, the delivery mechanism has served its purpose. What remains is paper, ink, and binding material. The book is not destroyed. Its value has migrated. The paper returns to the material cycle; the knowledge enters the intellectual one.” https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/internet/ai-labs-buy-scan-shred-millions-of-rare-books/news-story/0c3b45a67093ab462a587a0348538ce9

“We know our customers are going to absolutely love this new feature so we made sure they can’t shut it off by mistake, or at all,” said a spokesperson.

RE: https://mastodon.social/@Richard_Littler/116838333860652107

It is incredibly important that libraries not lose the trust they have earned as a place that is safe from this, where the history we preserve stays history and not hallucination.

A new bit of weasel-wording to watch out for: an Odyssey audiobook not read by, but “in the voice of” Michael Caine. https://www.avclub.com/the-odyssey-ai-audiobook

@skinnylatte I am working on a exhibition about depictions of workers and labor, and a colleague just showed me this artist’s book about traditional trades of Singapore with embossed illustrations. The lighter the paper the more the trade is fading away.