Amazon Destroys Rare Books to Train AI Models
Source: AppleInsider News
Amazon has joined publishers and tech companies in bulk-purchasing and pulping rare or out-of-print books for training data, a practice confirmed by an AirTag tracker hidden in a first edition that ended up in a Las Vegas warehouse. Companies can acquire physical cultural artifacts at scale, extract their value as training tokens, and dispose of the originals with minimal legal friction or public accountability. Rare books have become cheaper raw material for AI than licensing legitimate text datasets. The practice exploits legal gray zones (estate sales, remainder bins) while destroying irreplaceable originals.