How Anthropic trained its AI models on millions of books

When ChatGPT launched, in November of 2022, it started a race that almost immediately consumed the tech industry. OpenAI didn’t invent the concept of AI, but most of the state-of-the-art technology was confined to research labs at companies and institutions around the world. Then, suddenly, it was everywhere. And better than anyone expected. So many companies decided they needed to catch up as quickly as possible, by any means necessary, or risk losing the battle for maybe the most important technology ever.

On this episode of The Vergecast, we talk about one version of that scramble. The Washington Post’s Will Oremus joins the show to talk about the details he and his team uncovered about “Project Panama,” a huge effort inside Anthropic to access and digitize vast quantities of book in order to feed them into large language models. Anthropic’s plan — which included book cutters, piracy websites, and enormous warehouses — sounds a lot like what’s happening at other companies, too. The fight over whether any of it is right, legally or morally, is very much ongoing.

After that, Puck’s Julia Alexander joins the show to talk Netflix and the movies. As it continues to try to buy Warner Bros., Netflix is saying all the right things about movie theaters, big-budget films, and generally caring about Hollywood. But of course it is — it’s trying to buy Warner Bros.! Once this all shakes out, can theaters survive in an increasingly Netflix-ified world? Do people even want to see Netflix movies in theaters? And if not, what do we do with these big buildings and their big screens? Luckily we have some ideas.

Finally, The Verge’s Jennifer Pattison Tuohy answers a question from the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email vergecast@theverge.com!) about Ikea’s new smart buttons and why they don’t seem to work very well. In terrific news, one part of our conversation is already outdated: since we recorded this on Monday morning, Google announced button support for Google Home! Huge day for Mike, our caller. But the problems with Ikea’s exciting new low-cost smart gear still persist.

If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started: