Brief by Shorts91 Newsdesk / 11:50am on 26 Sep 2026,Saturday Tech Today
The University of Oxford has allowed OpenAI to use digitised historical material from its Bodleian Library to help train AI models, according to internal documents. The partnership, announced in 2025, was initially presented as a way to digitise texts and improve access for students and researchers. By June 2025, about 125,000 images from historical dissertations had been shared with OpenAI. Oxford staff raised concerns about reputational risks and the environmental impact of energy-intensive AI technology. The university said the digitised material is modest in scale, out of copyright, and that the Bodleian retains rights to the scans. (PC: AP)
