Amazon scans and destroys rare books for AI training data · 10 sources tracked

By PulseAugur Editorial · [15 sources] · 2026-08-17 13:16

An investigation by 404 Media, with assistance from Simon Willison, revealed that Amazon is acquiring large quantities of books, including rare ones, to scan them for AI training data. The process involves destructively scanning the books at an Amazon facility in Las Vegas, identified as VGT3 within the LAS8 complex. This practice aligns with the broader industry trend of AI companies seeking diverse training materials beyond readily available internet text, aiming to avoid issues like model collapse. AI

IMPACT Confirms destructive data acquisition practices by major tech firms, potentially impacting the value of physical media and the availability of diverse training data.

RANK_REASON Investigation reveals a major company's practice of acquiring and destroying books for AI training data.

Read on Mastodon — fosstodon.org →

AI-generated summary · Google Gemini · from 15 sources. How we write summaries →

Amazon scans and destroys rare books for AI training data · 10 sources tracked

How we ranked this

Signal score: 0 / 100; Composite score across the factors below. Higher = stronger signal that this story matters right now.
Newsworthiness bucket: Significant; Investigation reveals a major company's practice of acquiring and destroying books for AI training data.
Source corroboration: 15 independent sources; Strong cross-source corroboration — multiple independent publishers covered this within the clustering window.
Topics: product, infra; Editorial topic classification. Feeds into how the story surfaces on /topic/<slug> hub pages and into the per-entity coverage mix.
AI-industry relevance: High; Clearly on-topic for AI-industry coverage.
Story freshness: 52 days old; Aged out of breaking-news scoring windows; ranking reflects the durable signal from the full source set.
Coverage growth since scoring: +3 source(s) since last score; New sources have picked up this story since our last re-score. Score will update on the next scoring pass.

Full methodology in our editorial standards.

COVERAGE [15]

Simon Willison TIER_1 English(EN) · 2026-08-17 15:21

We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility

<p><strong><a href="https://www.404media.co/we-tracked-a-shipment-of-rare-books-it-ended-at-an-amazon-ai-training-facility/">We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility</a></strong></p> Excellent piece of reporting from 404 Media. For a while n…
404 Media TIER_1 English(EN) · Emanuel Maiberg · 2026-08-17 13:16

We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility

We placed a tracking device in a shipment of rare books to see which AI company was buying it, and found an Amazon facility where Amazon scans and destroys books.
Mastodon — fosstodon.org TIER_1 English(EN) · governa · 2026-08-21 17:45

# AirTag Investigation Tracks Rare Book Shipment to # Amazon Facility Scanning Books for # AI Training https://www. ghacks.net/2026/08/21/airtag-i nvestigation-

# AirTag Investigation Tracks Rare Book Shipment to # Amazon Facility Scanning Books for # AI Training https://www. ghacks.net/2026/08/21/airtag-i nvestigation-tracks-rare-book-shipment-to-amazon-facility-scanning-books-for-ai-training/

LINKS ghacks.net/…/airtag-investigation-tracks-…
Mastodon — fosstodon.org TIER_1 Polski(PL) · [email protected] · 2026-08-20 11:27

They placed an AirTag tracker in a book shipment – it turned out the books were likely scanned/destroyed and used for AI training. An interesting acc

Umieścili tracker AirTag w transporcie książek – okazało się, że prawdopodobnie książki zostały zeskanowane / zniszczone oraz użyte do trenowania AI. Ciekawą akcję opisuje serwis 404 Media: Jeden ze sprzedawców umieścił AirTaga w paczce blisko 1000 książek, które sprzedał (wcześn…

LINKS sekurak.pl/umiescili-tracker-airtag-w-tra…
Mastodon — fosstodon.org TIER_1 English(EN) · [email protected] · 2026-08-17 17:54

We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility https://simonwillison.net/2026/Aug/17/we-tracked-a-shipment-of-rare-books-it-end

We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility https://simonwillison.net/2026/Aug/17/we-tracked-a-shipment-of-rare-books-it-ended-at-an-amazon-ai-tra/ # AI # Books # Amazon

LINKS simonwillison.net/…/we-tracked-a-shipment…
Mastodon — fosstodon.org TIER_1 English(EN) · [email protected] · 2026-08-17 17:24

We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility https://www. 404media.co/we-tracked-a-shipm ent-of-rare-books-it-ended-at-an-ama

We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility https://www. 404media.co/we-tracked-a-shipm ent-of-rare-books-it-ended-at-an-amazon-ai-training-facility/ https:// archive.is/rs4aE # ai # books # datacenters # rarebooks # tech # technology # aitrain…

LINKS 404media.co/we-tracked-a-shipment-of-rare…
Mastodon — fosstodon.org TIER_1 English(EN) · [email protected] · 2026-08-17 15:22

We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility https://www. 404media.co/we-tracked-a-shipm ent-of-rare-books-it-ended-at-an-ama

We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility https://www. 404media.co/we-tracked-a-shipm ent-of-rare-books-it-ended-at-an-amazon-ai-training-facility/ # GAFAM # Amazon # AI # Books

LINKS 404media.co/we-tracked-a-shipment-of-rare…
Mastodon — fosstodon.org TIER_1 English(EN) · [email protected] · 2026-08-17 14:19

We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility https://www. 404media.co/we-tracked-a-shipm ent-of-rare-books-it-ended-at-an-ama

We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility https://www. 404media.co/we-tracked-a-shipm ent-of-rare-books-it-ended-at-an-amazon-ai-training-facility/ # 404media # ai

LINKS 404media.co/we-tracked-a-shipment-of-rare…
Mastodon — fosstodon.org TIER_1 English(EN) · [email protected] · 2026-08-17 13:16

We placed a tracking device in a shipment of rare books to see which AI company was buying it, and found an Amazon facility where Amazon scans and destroys book

We placed a tracking device in a shipment of rare books to see which AI company was buying it, and found an Amazon facility where Amazon scans and destroys books. # AI # Amazon # Books We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility

LINKS 404media.co/we-tracked-a-shipment-of-rare…
Mastodon — mastodon.social TIER_1 Italiano(IT) · [email protected] · 2026-08-23 08:18

They put an AirTag in a rare book: it ends up in the Amazon center where volumes are "cut" for AI | DDay.it https://www.dday.it/redazione/58399/met

Mettono un # AirTag in un # libro raro: finisce nel centro # Amazon dove i volumi vengono “tagliati” per l’IA | DDay.it https://www. dday.it/redazione/58399/metton o-un-airtag-in-un-libro-raro-finisce-nel-centro-amazon-dove-i-volumi-vengono-tagliati-per-lia # ai

LINKS dday.it/…/mettono-un-airtag-in-un-libro-r… dday.it/…/metton
Mastodon — mastodon.social TIER_1 English(EN) · lobsters · 2026-08-17 21:25

We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility https:// lobste.rs/s/flcpeu # ai # art https:// simonwillison.net/2026/Aug/17/ w

We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility https:// lobste.rs/s/flcpeu # ai # art https:// simonwillison.net/2026/Aug/17/ we-tracked-a-shipment-of-rare-books-it-ended-at-an-amazon-ai-tra/

LINKS lobste.rs/…/flcpeu simonwillison.net/…/we-tracked-a-shipment… simonwillison.net/…/17
Mastodon — mastodon.social TIER_1 English(EN) · [email protected] · 2026-08-17 21:00

🦖 We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility ｢ employees who work at this location say all they do is receive massive shipm

🦖 We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility ｢ employees who work at this location say all they do is receive massive shipments of printed books which they then cut the bindings off in order to scan the books more quickly. The printed book is …

LINKS 404media.co/we-tracked-a-shipment-of-rare…
Mastodon — mastodon.social TIER_1 English(EN) · [email protected] · 2026-08-17 17:54

We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility https:// fed.brid.gy/r/https://simonwil lison.net/2026/Aug/17/we-tracked-a-shipm

We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility https:// fed.brid.gy/r/https://simonwil lison.net/2026/Aug/17/we-tracked-a-shipment-of-rare-books-it-ended-at-an-amazon-ai-tra/
Mastodon — mastodon.social TIER_1 English(EN) · [email protected] · 2026-08-17 15:21

We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility https://simonwillison.net/2026/Aug/17/we-tracked-a-shipment-of-rare-books-it-end

We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility https://simonwillison.net/2026/Aug/17/we-tracked-a-shipment-of-rare-books-it-ended-at-an-amazon-ai-tra/ # AI # OpenSource # Tech

LINKS simonwillison.net/…/we-tracked-a-shipment…
Mastodon — mastodon.social TIER_1 English(EN) · [email protected] · 2026-08-17 13:16

We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility https:// fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.404m edia.co/we-tracked-a-shipment-of-rare-bo

We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility https:// fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.404m edia.co/we-tracked-a-shipment-of-rare-books-it-ended-at-an-amazon-ai-training-facility/

How we ranked this

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