aceOxford lets OpenAI train its AI models on Bodleian Library
The University of Oxford has allowed the company behind ChatGPT to train its AI models on historical texts from its Bodleian Library, as tech companies scour academic institutions for fresh data. The Bodleian material digitised by OpenAI has been used to “populate the OpenAI training set”, according to internal documents. Oxford announced a partnership with the company in March 2025, using OpenAI software to digitise texts from the university’s world-famous library, which it said would make the content more wide…
The Bodleian keeps the rights to the scans and plans to publish them openly online, which Oxford says will make rare historical material accessible to more people.
Oxford's 2025 announcement did not say the digitised Bodleian texts would train OpenAI's models, and staff raised reputational and environmental concerns about the partnership.
The extent of any wider digitisation is unclear, as the contract only raises the prospect of mass digitisation and Oxford disputes the characterisation of the project's scale and transparency.
Evidence
- JournalismThe Guardian2026-09-26
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Truvace Impact Record TRV-2026-1562, v1: “Oxford lets OpenAI train its AI models on Bodleian Library.” Truvace, 2026-10-16. /record/TRV-2026-1562 (accessed at citation time). sha256 646f1d86b2122f3c…
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