Anthropic reportedly destroyed millions of books for AI training via Project Panama
AI company Anthropic has been involved in a secretive operation known as "Project Panama," which began in early 2024. The initiative involved the bulk purchase of tens of thousands of books from suppliers such as Better World Books and World of Books to create training data for its AI chatbot, Claude.
To facilitate the industrial digitization process, the company used hydraulic presses to remove book covers before the pages were cut and scanned. Once the books were digitized to improve Claude's writing capabilities and reduce reliance on internet slang, the physical copies were shredded and subsequently recycled into products like cardboard and toilet paper.
Critics and booksellers in Australia, Canada, and Europe have noted a rising trend of massive purchases of out-of-print and specialized books by intermediaries linked to the AI sector. The practice of destroying physical copies after scanning has been used as part of legal arguments regarding "fair use" to mitigate copyright infringement claims.
Entities
Anthropic · Better World Books · Claude · Dario Amodei · World of Books
Claims
What the coverage asserts, and how well corroborated each claim is across sources.
- [● 4 SOURCES] The operation was called Project Panama and began in early 2024. www.kurierverlag.de · www.leinetal24.de · www.hna.de · www.tz.de
- [● 6 SOURCES] The shredded paper was later recycled into products such as toilet paper and cardboard. www.kurierverlag.de · www.leinetal24.de · www.hna.de · www.tz.de · ziarulnatiunea.ro · +1 more
- [● 6 SOURCES] Hydraulic presses were used to remove book covers before pages were cut and scanned. www.kurierverlag.de · www.leinetal24.de · www.hna.de · www.tz.de · ziarulnatiunea.ro · +1 more
- [● 4 SOURCES] The project aimed to improve Claude's ability to write well rather than mimic internet slang. www.kurierverlag.de · www.leinetal24.de · www.hna.de · www.tz.de
- [● 4 SOURCES] Anthropic purchased tens of thousands of books from Better World Books and World of Books for training its AI chatbot Claude. www.kurierverlag.de · www.leinetal24.de · www.hna.de · www.tz.de
- [● 6 SOURCES] The purchased books were shredded, scanned, and digitized to create training data for Claude. www.kurierverlag.de · www.leinetal24.de · www.hna.de · www.tz.de · ziarulnatiunea.ro · +1 more
- [● 4 SOURCES] Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said the company wanted to keep the project secret. www.kurierverlag.de · www.leinetal24.de · www.hna.de · www.tz.de