AirTag proves Amazon is destroying rare books to train AI
It’s cheaper this way.
Image by DaViDa S | Shutterstock
- 404 Media tracked a rare book to Amazon’s Las Vegas AI training facility, where books are reportedly dismantled and scanned.
- Employee discussions suggested Amazon scans barcodes and ISBNs, raising concerns that AI firms may seek to digitize vast print collections.
- The practice worries critics because rare books may be destroyed, even as companies argue purchased copies can be used for AI training.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
Journalists slipped a tracking device into one of the rare books that ended up in Amazon’s warehouse.
It has become somewhat of a public secret that physical books are being used by AI businesses to train their models.
An investigation by the 404 Media news outlet has revealed more insights into this practice after it agreed with a bookseller to place an AirTag in a rare book that would ship as part of a bulk order.
The device showed that the book ended up in Amazon’s AI training facility in Las Vegas, Nevada.
According to 404 Media, this is where a team of dedicated employees tears the books apart to prepare them for scanning.
While Amazon didn’t comment on the news outlet’s findings, it provided a statement, explaining that it “purchases books through commercial channels to help develop and improve the products and services [its] customers use,” reported Ars Technica.
Companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google are racing to build the most advanced AI, and training models on rare books could be an advantage.
Book-destroying T. rex
The investigation by 404 Media also found online discussions by Amazon’s employees who work in the company’s warehouse, VGT3, where books are collected, scanned, and then discarded.
What happens at the warehouse is also hinted at by its logo, a Tyrannosaurus rex poised to destroy a book.
According to these online discussions, Amazon was struggling to find more old books to scan. The issue seemed so severe that employees feared the warehouse would be shut down if the company did not get new supplies.
Despite the warehouse appearing to be out of work, it was later revealed that the facility is still operating and that rare books are brought in bulk to be destroyed.
Aim to scan all books in the world?
An investigation provided insight into how the company scans books and which rare books it selects.
It was suspected that AI companies target books by ISBN to ensure they receive unique content for training their AI models.
Employees' online discussions revealed that they start by scanning books' barcodes and ISBNs. This suggests that AI businesses are actually working to scan every printed book in the world by simply going through the ISBN list.
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Why discard the books?
Last year, Anthropic was also reported to have destroyed millions of books to train its AI assistant, Claude.
Since the company paid for those books, technically, it is allowed to do whatever it pleases with the original copies.
One reason AI companies decide to trash the books is that removing their backs makes it easier to scan them and speeds up the process.
Another reason might be related to copyright.
“It upsets me that there are ways to do this without destroying the book, but destroying the book is cheaper. Just awful,” one Redditor said.
“It's a legal requirement. Courts have ruled you're not stealing it so long as you copy it and then destroy the original. This is more of an issue with the law than it is [with] the companies,” explained another.
Journalists hid an Airtag in a rare book shipment and confirmed Amazon to be one of the buyers behind the bulk orders destroying rare-books to feed their AI.
by u/Current-Guide5944 in tech_x
While some users didn’t see an issue with the matter since the company paid for the books, others sought solutions to help preserve them.
“Essentially, libraries should own the digitized version, and through their partnership with the publishers, they could be the arbiters of the digital media, while also offering said publishers a cut of the monthly subscription,” offered one Reddit user.
