AI companies using rare books to train agents, while destroying them
19 August 2026
Emanuel Maiberg, writing for 404 Media:
A 404 Media investigation was able to reveal Amazon’s book buying operation, which hasn’t been previously reported, by placing a tracking device in a rare book we suspected would be acquired by an AI company for training data, and following it around the country to its final destination.
It’s one thing to use books to train AI without seeking the author’s permission, nor paying a royalty, but is there any need to destroy them as part of the process?
There is the point that being rare books, they may be older publications, and copyright has lapsed, but that still seems to be beside the point. I was about to suggest these titles be donated to schools or libraries, once no longer needed, but they’ve likely no longer in one piece.
Going further, the process strikes me as being a form of book burning. The AI companies are taking all sorts of liberties with copyrighted material, but destroying books takes bad form to new lows.
RELATED CONTENT
artificial intelligence, books, technology