byRNZ reports on yet another distressing development due to the “AI” craze:When a Wellington second-hand bookstore started to get bulk book orders, owner Anne-Marie Thorby smelt a rat. A Canadian buyer was sending multiple book orders to Book Haven in Newtown, sometimes minutes apart, for niche texts on New Zealand specific subjects. “They were local non-fiction niche books, so New Zealand local history, a tourist pamphlet on Waitomo Caves, Māori language books, New Zealand cookbooks, biographies, political cartoons, very niche – the local anglers club.” AI companies are buying these books and training their large language models, sometimes destroying books in the process. There was 10 orders in one day for 180 books, going to another company.”