Harvard opens access to 1 million books for training AI models
Harvard’s Library Innovation Lab lets everyone use 1 million books for AI training under its Institutional Data Initiative (IDI).
The educational institution explains it will allow the world to benefit from these collections that it has preserved for years.
More importantly, these books will help build the world’s AI future by training AI models with quality information.
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Harvard and Google to release 1 million public-domain books as AI training dataset https://t.co/ivf5gnymIc
— TechCrunch (@TechCrunch) December 12, 2024
Harvard Law Today reported that the university launched the Institutional Data Initiative on December 12, 2024.
Library Innovation Lab faculty director Jonathan Zittrain explained the project’s goals:
“IDI’s aim is to address newly energized interest from those quarters in otherwise-obscure texts in ways that preserve [the] institutions’ values.”
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“That means working towards access for all public domain works… for the human eye and imaginative machine processing.”
Nowadays, more people are relying on AI models to facilitate daily tasks, transforming societies worldwide.
The IDI also ensures that various groups and perspectives will have proper representation in future AI models.
For example, IDI executive director Greg Leppert cited Iceland, which implemented a government-led effort to open national library materials for AI applications.
Icelanders worried that their language and culture wouldn’t have proper representation in AI models.
Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo, founder and chief officer of Build Initiative Foundation, has also been using AI to preserve extinct Filipino languages.
Read this Inquirer Pop article to learn more.
Ultimately, Harvard believes opening its knowledge base to AI training “optimizes its ability to serve humanity.”
“We have an opportunity to use those public investments — some of which were made centuries ago — to ensure AI benefits as wide a reach of humanity as possible.”
“It’s a great time to have invested in knowledge stewardship,” Leppart added.
“And it’s a great time to reinvest in it as we head into an AI future.”
