- Amazon is buying tons of rare books, cutting off their spines, and scanning them for AI training, according to 404 Media, which placed a tracking device in a rare book that ultimately arrived at an Amazon facility in Las Vegas.
- A tracking device was planted in a rare book by 404 Media, which revealed that the book was part of a bulk order sent to an Amazon AI training facility in Las Vegas.
- The Airtag was tracked to an Amazon facility where a team was focused on tearing books from their spines and scanning pages.
- Companies like Amazon need unfathomably large amounts of text to train their LLMs, which have already ingested what they can from the internet.
- Rare books, especially those that are out of print or impossible to find online, offer a new source of coveted training data.
- Amazon's practice of buying up huge lots of rare books and destroying them after scanning has been ongoing for about a year.
- Many book lovers are horrified by the destructive book-scanning, with critics labeling the practice as 'evil incarnate.'
Amazon's practice of destroying rare books for AI training has sparked outrage among bibliophiles. A tracking device placed in a rare book revealed that Amazon is purchasing large quantities of these books, cutting their spines, and scanning them for data.256
According to 404 Media, the device led to an Amazon facility in Las Vegas, where workers are focused on tearing books apart for scanning. “The shortage was so alarming that they worried the warehouse might shut down if Amazon couldn’t find more books to scan,” a source revealed.
Critics, including investor Michael Burry, have condemned the practice, calling it 'evil incarnate.' The books targeted are often older and of lower monetary value, yet they hold “historical value, intellectual value, sentimental value” that AI firms overlook, according to the bookseller who planted the Airtag.3
Amazon has defended its actions, stating it “purchases books through commercial channels to improve the products and services customers use.” However, the backlash continues as many fear the loss of rare literary works in the name of technological advancement.
The practice raises ethical questions about the value of literature and the lengths companies will go to in order to train AI systems.
“Amazon's practice of systematically destroying rare books after scanning them has drawn significant backlash, with critics like Michael Burry calling it 'evil incarnate.' The company reportedly targets older, less valuable texts, raising concerns about the loss of historical and intellectual value in the pursuit of AI training data.”
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Ars Technica
