Amazon buys rare books, destroys spines to scan for AI training

An investigation by 404 Media reported that Amazon is purchasing rare books, removing their spines, and scanning them at a facility in Las Vegas identified as VGT3, which uses a logo featuring a dinosaur holding a book. The report included documentation from a tracking device placed in a rare book that was delivered to the facility.

Amazon confirmed to 404 Media that it "purchases books through commercial channels to improve the products and services customers use," framing the activity as part of efforts to enhance AI systems.

The report noted that rare books are particularly valuable for training large language models because many are out of print or unavailable online, and their publication dates predate 2022, reducing the risk of contamination with AI-generated text that could degrade model quality.

The practice underscores the broader industry challenge of securing large volumes of high-quality training data as models exhaust readily available online sources and seek alternative, often physical, text sources.