IdeaWell

Project ideas from Hacker News discussions.

AI companies destroy physical books – let's scan rare books before it's too late

Original Article

Hacker News Discussion

📝 Discussion Summary (Click to expand)

1. Legal pressure forces “scan‑and‑destroy”

“They are ‘forced’ to do this because that’s what they have to do to abide by copyright law.” — breezybottom

2. Most of the books are not truly rare

“These are like vanity‑press books; they’re rare only because nobody cares about them.” — tptacek

3. AI firms are actually preserving the content

“They are scanning them and preserving them digitally … as raw training data for future runs.” — erup

4. The backlash is driven more by anti‑AI sentiment than by genuine cultural loss

“The outraged people don’t care. They hate AI, and so anything surrounding AI that can be evil is evil.” — tptacek

These four themes capture the dominant viewpoints in the Hacker News thread.

🚀 Project Ideas

Generating project ideas…

RareBookGuard

Summary

  • Preserve rare books scanned by AI companies and guarantee public access to the digital copies.
  • Create an escrow model where AI firms purchase scanning rights and deposit immutable archives in a neutral custodian.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Rare book collectors, AI training data providers, libraries
Core Feature Digital escrow of scanned books with automatic public release after copyright expiry or verified destruction
Tech Stack IPFS for storage, Ethereum smart contracts, React/Node.js backend
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Revenue-ready: SaaS subscription $10/mo per institution

Notes

  • HN commenters would love it because it directly answers “books destroyed” concerns; e.g., “runarberg: … unique copies will be destroyed.”
  • Enables a public‑interest solution while giving AI firms a compliant data source.

AnnasArchive Marketplace

Summary

  • Provide a legal marketplace for AI companies to acquire scanning rights for out‑of‑copyright books while ensuring preservation.
  • Enable collectors to sell scans with a revenue‑share that funds future preservation efforts.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Book dealers, AI firms, archival NGOs
Core Feature Listings of rare books, price negotiation, escrow of digital copies, 5% transaction fee to a preservation fund
Tech Stack Django + PostgreSQL, Stripe API, React frontend
Difficulty Low
Monetization Revenue-ready: 5% transaction fee per sale

Notes

  • HN commenters repeatedly note “tptacek: The 404 story suggested … vanity press books.” This marketplace would channel that interest into legit preservation.
  • Low friction encourages more books to enter the pipeline before they are pulped.

PreserveAI Archive

Summary

  • Automatically backup digital scans of books before they are destroyed, storing them in a public repository.
  • Offer AI firms an easy API to upload scans to a preservation vault, ensuring long‑term accessibility.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience AI training data teams, libraries, NGOs
Core Feature Bulk ingest API that writes immutable copies to a versioned MinIO vault, audit logs, public read‑only mirror
Tech Stack Kubernetes, MinIO/S3‑compatible storage, GraphQL, Terraform
Difficulty High
Monetization Hobby

Notes

  • Echoes “eru: The alternative for many of these un(der)appreciated books is that they will get unceremoniously dumped…”
  • Directly counters the “destroy originals” complaint by preserving the digital version for everyone.

CopyrightFairUseTrust

Summary

  • Form a charitable trust that acquires rare books, scans them under fair‑use, destroys the originals, and releases the digital copies to the public after a set period.
  • Monetize via grants and a modest per‑download fee to sustain operations.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Non‑profits, libraries, compliant AI firms
Core Feature Legal acquisition workflow, escrow of scans, automated release scheduler, provenance ledger
Tech Stack Python/Django, PostgreSQL, Bitcoin‑style ledger for provenance, CI/CD pipeline
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Revenue-ready: $1 per download + grant funding

Notes

  • Addresses “freejazz: They are 'forced' to do this because that's what they have to do to abide by copyright law.”
  • Aligns with HN sentiment that a structured, trust‑based model would resolve the legal‑preservation conflict.

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