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Amazon purchases and destroys books to train AI models
Investigations by 404 Media have revealed that Amazon is purchasing large quantities of books—including rare, out-of-print, and technical editions—to use as training data for artificial intelligence. The process involves sending these books to a facility in Las Vegas, where employees reportedly remove bindings and scan the pages before the physical copies are destroyed.
The operation was uncovered after a seller used an AirTag to track a book from a bulk order of approximately one thousand titles, which led to Amazon's LAS8 facility. While Amazon confirmed it acquires books through commercial channels to improve its products, the company has not specified the volume of books processed or the specific AI systems being trained.
Parallel reports indicate other technology companies are pursuing similar strategies. Court documents cited by The Guardian and The Washington Post detail Anthropic's 'Project Panama,' an initiative aimed at the destructive scanning of between 500,000 and 2 million books to feed its AI models. These practices have raised significant concerns regarding copyright, the loss of physical cultural heritage, and the permanent disappearance of rare literary works.
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Claims
What the coverage asserts, and how many sources carry each claim.
- [● 2 SOURCES] The purchased books include rare, out-of-print, technical, and foreign language editions. seucreditodigital.com.br · tvtnews.com.br
- [○ 1 SOURCE] Amazon uses a facility in Las Vegas, known as LAS8, to process these books. seucreditodigital.com.br
- [○ 1 SOURCE] Amazon confirmed it acquires books through commercial channels to develop and improve products. seucreditodigital.com.br
- [● 2 SOURCES] An investigation by 404 Media revealed Amazon's practice of purchasing books for AI training. seucreditodigital.com.br · tvtnews.com.br
- [○ 1 SOURCE] Anthropic's 'Project Panama' aimed to destructively scan between 500,000 and 2 million books. www.planet.fr
- [○ 1 SOURCE] Employees at the Las Vegas facility report removing bindings and scanning pages before destroying the books. seucreditodigital.com.br