Ban destructive scanning of books used in AI training or digitising

Summary

We call on the Government to require that any company purchasing UK books in bulk for AI training use non-destructive scanning methods, and to bar AI models built on destructively-scanned books from commercial licensing in the UK. There are reports of AI companies buying and destructively scanning millions of books for AI training; a 2025 US court ruled this lawful there under fair use. Non-destructive scanning already exists and is used by libraries, but some AI firms favour destructive methods because they are faster and cheaper. Booksellers in the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Spain have since reported near-identical bulk requests from other AI firms, suggesting UK sellers could be next. Nothing currently stops AI models trained this way from being sold and used in the UK.

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Timeline

1. 26 July 2026

   Petition

   We call on the Government to require that any company purchasing UK books in bulk for AI training use non-destructive scanning methods, and to bar AI models built on destructively-scanned books from commercial licensing in the UK. There are reports of AI companies buying and destructively scanning millions of books for AI training; a 2025 US court ruled this lawful there under fair use. Non-destructive scanning already exists and is used by libraries, but some AI firms favour destructive methods because they are faster and cheaper. Booksellers in the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Spain have since reported near-identical bulk requests from other AI firms, suggesting UK sellers could be next. Nothing currently stops AI models trained this way from being sold and used in the UK.

   Source: Petition

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