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I don't know, what I do know is that every book on Google Books worth reading is behind a paywall

Yes. This is because they cannot provide you the full text of the book; that would be illegal.

They can provide you a snippet, within the legal limits of what they are able to reproduce. They can also direct you to buy a copy of it through them, if the publisher has a deal with Google. Seeing as all roads lead to Rome... most books in Google Books are also available for purchase through Google. Funny system.

If OpenAI did the same with Dall-e (provide you a snippet, within the legal limits of what they are able to reproduce. They can also direct you to buy a copy of it through them, if the publisher has a deal with [them]) things would be different.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com