data-sourcing
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AirTag reveals Amazon is trashing rare books to train AI
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A rare book containing a hidden AirTag was tracked to Amazon’s VGT3 warehouse in Las Vegas, where 404 Media reported that a team tore books from their spines and scanned their pages. The book was supplied by a bookseller as part of a bulk order after booksellers had spent roughly a year suspecting that AI companies were acquiring large quantities of rare books and destroying them after digitization. 404 Media connected the tracked book to an Amazon AI training facility, providing evidence tying Amazon to at least one such bulk purchase. Amazon did not comment directly on the findings or say whether the scanned books were used for AI training. The company said it buys books through commercial channels “to help develop and improve the products and services our customers use.” Amazon is developing frontier AI models, which require large volumes of distinct training data to compete with companies including Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic. Text from rare books could offer valuable training material because the works may be difficult to obtain elsewhere. Anthropic and xAI have publicly said they do not train their models on rare or antique books. A logo documented on the VGT3 team’s warehouse door depicted a Tyrannosaurus rex preparing to devour a book.