AI Companies Consolidate Control Over Public Knowledge

An opinion essay published Jan. 16, 2026, argues that more than a decade after Aaron Swartz’s death, large AI companies are ingesting copyrighted books, journalism and research at industrial scale and converting public knowledge into proprietary models. It cites a 2025 Anthropic settlement valuing alleged infringement at roughly $3,000 per book across about 500,000 works (approximately $1.5 billion) and warns this corporate capture shifts control away from democratic oversight.