2026-08-18 / Signal #3
Amazon is buying rare books just to destroy them for training data
“Amazon is murdering rare books so AI doesn’t eat its own tail.”
The Story
Amazon is reportedly purchasing rare and out-of-print books, cutting off their spines, and scanning them at a Las Vegas facility. 404 Media tracked a shipment with an AirTag from a bookseller to the scanning warehouse; Amazon says it buys books “to improve products and services.
Why It Matters
The company that started by selling books is now pulping analog copies so its models can train on human-made material. Pre-2022 paper is the new oil.
Evidence
TechCrunch recap of 404 Media’s AirTag tracking investigation.
Sources
Daily scan: 2026-08-18