The Register: Bots are overwhelming websites with their hunger for AI data

Jun 17, 2025

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Source URL: https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/17/bot_overwhelming_websites_report/
Source: The Register
Title: Bots are overwhelming websites with their hunger for AI data

Feedly Summary: GLAM-E Labs report warns of risk to online cultural resources
Bots harvesting content for AI companies have proliferated to the point that they’re threatening digital collections of arts and culture.…

AI Summary and Description: Yes

Summary: The report from GLAM-E Labs highlights the growing threat posed by bots that harvest content from online cultural resources, significantly impacting digital collections in the arts and culture sectors. This has critical implications for information security, particularly concerning the safeguarding of intellectual property and cultural heritage in an increasingly AI-driven landscape.

Detailed Description: The GLAM-E Labs report raises serious concerns regarding the use of automated bots that are gathering content from digital collections. These bots are primarily targeted at resources in the arts and cultural domain and pose significant risks. Here are the major points discussed in the report:

– **Threat to Cultural Heritage**: The rampant extraction of content may jeopardize the integrity of digital cultural collections, leading to potential misrepresentation or loss of original context.

– **AI and Intellectual Property**: As AI technologies rely heavily on vast datasets for training, the unauthorized harvesting of artistic content raises critical questions about intellectual property rights and ownership.

– **Information Security Risks**: The proliferation of such bots indicates a broader trend of vulnerabilities within online information systems that need to be addressed to protect sensitive cultural heritage assets.

– **Regulatory and Compliance Considerations**: The findings necessitate a reevaluation of current policies concerning data harvesting and copyright protections in digital collections, urging the importance of compliance with emerging regulations in the AI domain.

Overall, the report serves as a wake-up call for cultural institutions and policymakers to implement stronger controls and governance frameworks to guard against these evolving threats posed by AI-driven content harvesting. It emphasizes the need for enhanced information security measures to protect digital assets that are integral to cultural preservation.

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