World's largest open library calls for volunteers to scan and preserve physical books as AI companies buy, scan, and destroy them — Anna's Archive says ‘time is running out’ as ‘knowledge is permanently monopolized on private servers’

A volunteer for Anna's Archive is calling for volunteers to scan and upload books to the shadow library to help preserve human knowledge for the public. The move comes as more AI companies buy, scan, and destroy books to feed to AI models, which is easier and faster than scanning the written works in a non-destructive manner.