Amazon scans and dismantles rare books to feed its AI models
A coalition of more than a dozen public interest and consumer organizations has written to FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson and Commissioner Mark Meador, asking the agency to investigate AI developers’ practice of purchasing large numbers of physical books, digitizing them for large‑language‑model training, and then disposing of the originals. The complaint references internal memos from Anthropic describing a project to scan books and notes that Amazon has been identified in separate reporting as conducting comparable operations at a Las Vegas warehouse designated VGT3, where employees reportedly strip spines and scan pages.
Similar internal documents from Meta have been cited as indicating a parallel “book‑scan‑and‑destroy” effort aimed at pre‑2022 titles. The advocacy groups argue that the alleged hoarding and destruction of books could limit public and competitor access to valuable source material and may violate Section 5 of the FTC Act, which bars unfair or deceptive business practices.
How this was covered
- Left-leaning outlets covered this 27h later
Why it matters
If AI companies are removing physical books from public circulation, it could reduce access to cultural and scholarly works while concentrating valuable knowledge in the hands of a few firms.
How this story developed
- Aug 17 Amazon scans and dismantles rare books to feed its AI models
- Aug 21 The coalition submitted a formal request to the FTC for an inquiry into the alleged book‑destruction practices.
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