Bots scraping library collections for AI are slowing sites for researchers and the public

1. What happened

   According to a CBC News report, academic libraries are fighting off swarms of data-scraping bots that slow or crash sites meant for students, researchers and the public.

2. When it started

   The provided material does not give a publication date. A related item says the story was shared 142 times on Mastodon today.

3. How it spread

   According to the report, the bots are harvesting content from library collections as AI companies hunt for material to feed their large language models. The exact methods and traffic volumes were not detailed in the material provided.

4. Why it matters

   The scraping reportedly overloads library systems, which can shut out researchers and the public from resources they rely on. The provided material does not say what steps libraries or AI companies plan to take.