Amazon Accused of Destroying Rare Books for AI Training, Revealed by Hidden Airtag

For the past year, booksellers have suspected that AI firms are buying and destroying rare books after scanning them for training data. 404 Media confirmed this suspicion by planting an Airtag in a rare book that was part of a bulk order. The tag was traced to an Amazon AI training facility in Las Vegas, where a team reportedly tears books from their spines and scans pages. A warehouse labeled VGT3 displayed a logo of a Tyrannosaurus rex devouring a book, underscoring the destructive process. Amazon declined to comment on the findings, issuing a statement that did not mention AI training. The incident fuels growing backlash over the cultural cost of training large language models.