Noesion Radarnoesion.ai
Incident2026-09-26

Oxford let OpenAI use Bodleian Library texts to train its AI models. Internal papers show scanned texts went into OpenAI’s training set. Oxford said the material is out of copyright. The Bodleian sent OpenAI 125,000 scans of old PhD theses by June 2025. Some staff had raised concerns about reputation and energy use. Oxford said the scans were small in scale and not exclusive to OpenAI. The library will post the scans online in the next few months. Oxford is the only UK member of OpenAI’s NextGenAI group. The books remain whole under the deal.

What changed

Oxford had not publicly stated the scans would be used for AI training.

What it unlocks

OpenAI can now use Bodleian Library texts in its model training data.

  • 125,000 scans of old PhD theses
  • March 2025 deal announced

Sources

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