Korean bookseller Kyobo Book Centre rejected a foreign buyer’s request for 100,000 books after it could not verify the intended recipient, a company official told The Korea Herald, amid concerns about books supplying AI training data.
The buyer had no prior dealings with Kyobo. Rather than select titles or genres, it proposed buying one copy of every book, the official said. The buyer identified the eventual recipient only as a data company and cited contract terms as its reason for giving no further details, according to the official.
The case comes amid broader concern that bulk book purchases could be used for artificial intelligence training. The buyer’s intended use of the books was not established.
Kyobo routinely checks the recipient and purpose of large orders, the official said. Those checks had not previously posed a problem, but the bookseller did not receive enough information to complete this sale. The official said Kyobo would continue its usual checks for future orders.
The Korea Herald reported that the Korean Publishers Association plans to ask major book retailers, used-book sellers and distributors about similar bulk-buying requests. It also plans to urge the government and National Assembly to strengthen legislation protecting book copyrights.
