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AI scrapes AO3 fanworks to build a site for sale, authors send 2,000 takedown requests in one dayDevelopments
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- Source:404 Media
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Nov 3
404 Media
AI scrapes AO3 fanworks to build a site for sale, authors send 2,000 takedown requests in one day
A website called ao3.life, which used AI agents to scrape AO3 fanworks and convert them into paid audiobooks, shut down one day after launching; the creator said it received more than 2,000 takedown requests from authors that day. The site claimed it used a group of AI agents controlling 40 virtual machines to scrape works from the internet, offered the first 3 minutes free, then charged for AI-generated audiobooks, and claimed authors could receive 91% of the revenue. The creator described himself as a 17-year-old developer from India and said the site had 126,592 unique users within 24 hours, but actually sold only about 11 audiobooks.