internetarchiveSep 24, 2025

Big news: Internet Archive Europe @internetarchiveeurope has opened its new HQ in Amsterdam! 🎉 A home for preservation, access & shared cultural heritage.

Read coverage from @maria in Flaming Hydra: https://flaminghydra.com/freedom-and-sharing-at-the-internet-archive-europe/

Freedom and Sharing at the Internet Archive Europe

On Friday, in a narrow, cream-painted 17th-century row house facing a wide canal bathed in golden light, the Internet Archive Europe celebrated the opening of its new headquarters in Amsterdam. Around 100 guests milled around, snacking on hors d’oeuvres and drinks and sharing their inspiringly ambitious goals for the

Flaming Hydra
Show threadKalytisSep 24, 2025
@internetarchive @internetarchiveeurope alright, great -- but why on Earth is AI everywhere on this website ? Why is there an absolute need to include tools that are pillaging creators, destroying the planet and creating social disasters amongst invisibilized workers ? The original Internet Archive website doesn't bring this crap, why is Internet Archive Europe doing this ?
Show threadInternet Archive EuropeSep 24, 2025
@Kalytis @internetarchive Internet Archive Europe isn't the same as Internet Archive in the US. We are a mission-aligned organization. One of our goals is to use AI tools to bring collections to life - enhance metadata, instant translations on the fly, allow for interactive uses of the vast cultural heritage that is locked up. If we limit ourselves to thinking of AI as only generative chatbots, we miss a lot of amazing applications. It's so much more.
Show threadOriel Jutty Sep 25, 2025

@internetarchiveeurope @Kalytis @internetarchive

One of our goals is to use AI tools

Thank you; I will make sure to avoid anything you touch.

Show threadNatanox 🇺🇦🇵🇸

@barubary @internetarchiveeurope @Kalytis @internetarchive Your loss. What they mentioned so far (translations and adding metadata) are great uses for this technology, as can also be seen by things like deepl.com or even the "Recognize" app in Nextcloud. Modern multimodal AIs blow every classic OCR out of the water as well. If there ever has been a good use for AI that gives back to society then it's this.

It's one thing to avoid & criticize overhyped nonsense, but this isn't it.

Sep 25, 2025 at 9:29amWeb
Show threadOriel Jutty Sep 25, 2025

@Natanox @internetarchiveeurope @Kalytis @internetarchive If the goal were to improve translations or add better metadata, I'd be on board. But they didn't say that. What they said was that use of AI tools is the goal and any resulting benefits are ancillary.

Also, "AI" is burned as a marketing term, at least as far as I'm concerned. If you have software that works (like a better OCR algorithm), that's not AI. (And I don't want "AI that gives back to society"; I want it to not take away from society in the first place.)

Speaking of overhyped nonsense, the wording in the post doesn't help. Phrases like "mission-aligned organization" and "enhance metadata" are meaningless to me. And "interactive uses of the vast cultural heritage that is locked up" sounds like overhyped chatbots again.

Show threadNatanox 🇺🇦🇵🇸Sep 25, 2025

@barubary @internetarchiveeurope @Kalytis @internetarchive
> "If the goal were to improve translations or add better metadata, I'd be on board. But they didn't say that."
I've marked it for you where they literally said that. Enhance metadata, instant translations.

> "Phrases like "mission-aligned organization" and "enhance metadata" are meaningless to me."

Saying they're alligned with the mission of the US org is meaningless to you? All of this sounds like an interpretation-issue of yours.

Show threadOriel Jutty Sep 25, 2025

@Natanox I didn't say that those things weren't mentioned in the post; I said they were not stated goals. The part you highlighted is just some examples of things that might fall under "bring collections to life".

Similarly, "aligned with the mission of the US org" is nowhere to be found in that post. Note particularly that it says "We are a mission-aligned organization" and not "We are mission-aligned organizations", which would be closer to your version. (But not identical: It means "The mission of X is aligned with the mission of Y" while your version means "X is aligned with the mission of Y" (where X = Internet Archive Europe and Y = Internet Archive).)

As for whether your version is meaningless: Not quite, but – like the original – it also uses weasel words (like "aligned") that mean less than one might think.