Key facts
- Amazon is acquiring rare books.
- Amazon removes the spines of these books.
- Amazon scans the books to train AI models.
- An Airtag hidden in a rare book led to an Amazon AI training facility.
- The facility is located in Las Vegas.
- Amazon has declined to comment specifically on AI training.
- Booksellers and preservationists have criticized the practice.
- Critics are concerned about the loss of historical artifacts.
Amazon is acquiring large quantities of rare books and subsequently destroying them by removing their spines to scan them for use as training data for artificial intelligence models. This practice has come under scrutiny following an investigation that used an Airtag hidden in a rare book. The Airtag tracked the book to an Amazon AI training facility located in Las Vegas, Nevada, thereby confirming suspicions about the company's methods. Amazon has not provided specific comments regarding its use of books for AI training. However, the reported destruction of these historical artifacts has generated significant criticism from booksellers and preservationists who are concerned about the irreversible loss of valuable cultural and historical items.