Oxford lets OpenAI train its AI models on Bodleian library
Summary
The University of Oxford is working with OpenAI to digitize historical texts from its Bodleian Library. These texts are being used to train OpenAI’s AI models to improve their ability to understand and generate language.Key Facts
- Oxford partnered with OpenAI in March 2025 to digitize library texts and make them easier to access.
- The digitized data, including historic books and dissertations, is used to train OpenAI’s AI models like ChatGPT.
- Over 125,000 images from historical documents have been shared, including 16th-century ballads and 19th-20th century theses.
- Only out-of-copyright and publicly available materials are included in the digitization.
- Oxford retains rights to the scans and plans to publish them online soon.
- Some university staff expressed concerns about reputational risks and environmental impacts from using AI technology.
- This project is part of OpenAI’s broader NextGenAI initiative with other research libraries.
- The Bodleian collection has about 23 million items, raising potential for large-scale digitization.
Read the Full Article
This is a fact-based summary from The Actual News. Click below to read the complete story directly from the original source.
