[REVISION HISTORY]

AI companies accused of destructive book scanning

Updated 9 times since CLSTR started tracking revisions of this situation.

What changed

2026-08-28 04:42 UTC → 2026-08-31 08:40 UTC · added ~~removed~~

Concerns have emerged regarding the practice of ‘destructive scanning’ used to acquire training data for artificial intelligence. Initially, Australian booksellers and rare-book experts reported that the Canadian company Zoom Books was making large, irregular orders for niche, decades-old titles, expressing concern that these books were being destroyed after digitization. Scrutiny has since expanded to the AI developer Anthropic. Court documents regarding an internal initiative called ‘Project Panama’ suggest the company has been acquiring millions of secondhand and out-of-print books to facilitate digital data collection. ~~This process reportedly involves cutting spines, covers,~~ Reports indicate that Anthropic uses a ‘scan-and-destroy’ method to train its Claude AI, where book spines are slit and ~~bindings~~ pages are trimmed to ~~allow for automated scanning, after which~~ meet scanning formats, rendering them unusable. An internal memo allegedly describes the ~~physical copies are discarded.~~ objective as ‘destructively scanning all the books in the world.’ While Anthropic has stated that rare books are not the target, legal documents reveal the company previously reached a $1.5 billion settlement regarding the use of pirated books. Investigations have also extended to Amazon. ~~A report by~~ Reports from 404 Media ~~used~~ revealed that an ~~AirTag to track a shipment of rare volumes to a specialized warehouse~~ Amazon facility in Las Vegas, ~~identified~~ known as ~~VGT3. Employees there reportedly described a workflow involving stripping ISBN barcodes and cutting spines to facilitate rapid scanning. This method~~ VGT3, is used to ~~acquire high-quality text published before 2022 to avoid ‘model collapse,’ a phenomenon where AI models degrade by learning from machine-generated content rather than authentic human expression.~~ scan and subsequently destroy books. Testimony from an anonymous employee ~~at the VGT3 facility~~ indicates the process involves mechanically cutting spines off new, used, and library copies—including materials in German, Russian, and Japanese—to feed pages into high-speed scanners. Once digitized, the pages are discarded as loose paper, making reconstruction impossible. This method is used to acquire high-quality text published before 2022 to avoid ‘model collapse.’ In response to these revelations, a coalition of American civil rights groups has called for a federal investigation into AI companies.

Versions

Only revisions since CLSTR began indexing content versions appear here. Select a version to see what changed compared to the one before it.