Amazon joins other tech giants in gobbling up books to train AI, report finds

Nypost · Aug 18, 2026 · 670 words · By Marc Vartabedian

Preservation of Physical Media AI Ethics and Data Acquisition Corporate Secrecy

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What to know about Preservation of Physical Media

Amazon joins other tech giants in gobbling up books to train AI, report finds See more of our coverage in your search results.

Claims checked 11

Techniques found 2

Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center50%

Right50%

2 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Amazon joins other tech giants in gobbling up books to train AI, report finds See more of our coverage in your search results.

Why it matters

Add The New York Post on Google Amazon is reportedly buying massive quantities of rare books, scanning their pages to train its AI models and destroying the tomes in the process — joining Anthropic, Meta and other tech giants in operating massive book…

Common ground

The goal, according to a report by news site 404 Media, is to train AI on well-written texts as opposed to low-quality internet slop, which AI models have already for the most part devoured.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language, Exaggeration / Hyperbole: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

Follow-up questions

What new context would change how readers understand this Preservation of Physical Media story?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that 404 Media said it uncovered Amazon’s book-buying operation by hiding a tracking device in a rare volume... Its movements were traced across states to its final destination – an Amazon warehouse in Las Vegas?
How does this story connect Preservation of Physical Media with AI Ethics and Data Acquisition over the next few days?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://nypost.com/2026/08/18/business/amazon-joins-other-tech-giants-in-buying-…

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 2 propaganda techniques in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning

Loaded Language 90% confidence

Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.

Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.

Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

warning

Exaggeration / Hyperbole 70% confidence

Overstating facts or claims to create a stronger emotional response.

Why it matters: Recognizing exaggeration / hyperbole helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 11 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 4

verified Verified By Reference 2

info Single Source 2

help Insufficient Evidence 2

schedule Pending 1

verified

Claim 1: “404 Media said it uncovered Amazon’s book-buying operation by hiding a tracking device in a rare volume... Its movements were traced across states to its final destination – an Amazon warehouse in Las Vegas.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The claim is corroborated by multiple web sources and specifically confirmed by a Wikipedia entry for 'VGT3', which describes it as an Amazon facility in Las Vegas used for destructive book scanning.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Fallout: New Vegas is a 2010 action role-playing game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Bethesda Softworks. The game, which was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xb…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallout:_New_Vegas

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Las Vegas, colloquially shortened to Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. It is the 24th-most populous city in the United States, with 641,…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Vegas

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — VGT3 is an Amazon facility in Las Vegas used for data harvesting and destructive book scanning to train large language models. Employees at VGT3 receive the books, cut their spines, and scan their pag…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VGT3

+ 3 more evidence sources

info

Claim 2: “The bookseller... agreed to slip an Apple AirTag provided by the publication into a huge order the vendor received in July for around 1,000 works through a book marketplace.”

SINGLE SOURCE

While the general investigation is widely reported, the specific detail about the bookseller slipping an AirTag into an order of 1,000 books in July is primarily attributed to the 404 Media investigation and not independently corroborated by other primary sources in the provided evidence.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — AirTag is a tracking device developed by Apple. AirTag is designed to act as a key finder, which helps people find personal objects such as keys, bags, apparel, small electronic devices and vehicles. …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AirTag

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Apple silicon is a series of system on a chip (SoC) and system in a package (SiP) designs by Apple Inc., primarily using the ARM architecture, along with a range of more specialized chips for other de…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_silicon

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Timothy Donald Cook (born November 1, 1960) is an American business executive who served as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Apple Inc. from 2011 to 2026, and has been the company's executive chai…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Cook

+ 3 more evidence sources

help

Claim 3: “Anthropic executives in early 2024 ramped up their book-scanning project – code named “Project Panama””

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found in the provided search results to confirm the existence of 'Project Panama' specifically as a ramped-up project in early 2024, although other sources mention the name in a general context.

check_circle

Claim 4: “Amazon is reportedly buying massive quantities of rare books, scanning their pages to train its AI models and destroying the tomes in the process”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent web search results (404 Media, Yahoo News, and other reports) confirm that Amazon is purchasing rare books, scanning them for AI training, and destroying them in the process.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — “…Amazon is buying tons of rare books, cutting off their spines, and scanning them for AI training, according to 404 Media, which placed a tracking device in a rare book that ultimately arrived at an …
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/andrsptian_amazon-which-start…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Tech companies are buying rare books, scanning them, and destroying them to train AI. An investigation from 404 Media tracked a shipment of purchased books with a hidden device and traced it to an Ama…
https://www.tiktok.com/discover/404-media-amazon-investigati…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Amazon is buying huge quantities of rare books, scanning them for AI, and destroying them, 404 Media’s Emanual Maiberg reports.
https://www.tipranks.com/news/the-fly/amazon-buying-rare-boo…

help

Claim 5: ““Project Panama is our effort to destructively scan all the books in the world,” Anthropic executives said in an internal planning document that was unsealed in legal filings in January.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found in the provided search results to confirm the specific quote from an internal planning document unsealed in January regarding the goal to 'destructively scan all the books in the world'.

info

Claim 6: “A 2024 Meta internal email called securing a digital cache of books “essential” to competing in the AI race.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The specific detail regarding a 2024 internal Meta email calling a digital cache of books 'essential' appears in one report summarizing the investigation; other Meta-related evidence provided is general and does not confirm this specific email.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — In September 2021, Meta launched Ray-Ban Stories, its first generation of smart glasses. In 2023, Meta and Ray-Ban released Ray-Ban Meta, the second generation of the companies' smart glasses line, wi…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meta_smart_glasses

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Llama ("Large Language Model Meta AI" serving as a backronym) was a family of large language models (LLMs) released by Meta AI starting in February 2023. Llama models come in different sizes, ranging …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llama_(language_model)

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Meta AI is a research division of Meta (formerly Facebook) that develops artificial intelligence and augmented reality technologies. It has workspaces in Menlo Park, London, New York City, Paris, Seat…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meta_AI

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 7: “The mascot of the Amazon team that works at the warehouse, named VGT3, is a Tyrannosaurus rex showing its chompers while holding a book”

CORROBORATED

Three independent web sources (Yahoo News, Tech Brew, and 404 Media) describe the VGT3 mascot as a T-Rex holding/devouring a book.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Apparently tone-deaf to the escalating backlash over destructive book scanning, a logo on the door of that team’s warehouse, VGT3, showed a Tyrannosaurus rex preparing to devour a book, 404 Media docu…
https://www.soz6.com/news/hidden-airtag-reveals-amazon-is-tr…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — The shipment ended up at an Amazon warehouse in Las Vegas home to a team called VGT3, whose logo features a Tyrannosaurus Rex holding a book. Workers there say they cut off book spines to speed up sca…
https://podscripts.co/podcasts/tech-brew-ride-home/is-it-iro…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Despite Amazon clearly trying to keep this practice under wraps, the logo for the part of the warehouse the book scanners work in, called VGT3, is so on the nose that it borders on farce: a T-Rex hold…
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/amazon-caught-destroying-rare-book…

schedule

Claim 8: “The report noted that Anthropic initially considered purchasing books from used bookstores and libraries including the New York Public Library”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

check_circle

Claim 9: “The process – also detailed in a January Washington Post article on Anthropic and other AI labs’ own book-scanning efforts – involves automated machines that chop the bindings off the orphaned volumes.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm the use of automated slicing/cutting machines to remove bindings from books for AI scanning, specifically mentioning Anthropic and other tech firms.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Tech companies are using automated slicing machines to sever the spines of the books to speed up the process and cut costs before scanning them to train AI models.
https://dnyuz.com/2026/08/18/amazon-joins-other-tech-giants-…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Anthropic took this to heart, alongside other big tech firms, running to libraries to collect hundreds of thousands of physical, pre-2022 (AKA, pre-ChatGPT AI slop text) books to scan to train their A…
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/angy-watson-7999b940_training…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Anthropic's Project Panama destructively scans millions of books for Claude AI training.Service providers removed the books from their bindings, cut their pages to the appropriate size, and fed them t…
https://theoutpost.ai/news-story/ai-companies-are-buying-and…

verified

Claim 10: “Warehouse workers at the Las Vegas location said their days are spent taking in heaping shipments of printed books and preparing them for AI scanning.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The Wikipedia entry for 'VGT3' explicitly states that employees at this Las Vegas facility receive books, cut their spines, and scan their pages, destroying them in the process.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Amazon.com, Inc. (doing business as Amazon) is an American multinational technology company engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, entertainment, and artificial…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_(company)

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) is a subsidiary of Amazon that provides on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs to individuals, companies, and governments, on a metered, pay-as-you-go basis. Clie…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Web_Services

menu_book

+ 3 more evidence sources

check_circle

Claim 11: “joining Anthropic, Meta and other tech giants in operating massive book scan-and-destroy operations”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources report that Anthropic and Meta are involved in similar book scan-and-destroy operations for AI training, with specific mention of Anthropic's 'Project Panama'.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — An AI boom is a period of rapid growth in the field of artificial intelligence. The most recent boom happened in the 2020s before seeing increased acceleration and media coverage. Generative AI techno…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI_boom

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — The AI bubble is a concept that asserts there is a stock market bubble growing since 2025 amid the AI boom, a period of rapid increase in investment in artificial intelligence (AI) that is affecting t…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI_bubble

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Mistral AI SAS (French: [mistʁal]) is a French artificial intelligence (AI) company headquartered in Paris. Founded in 2023, it develops large language models (LLMs). As of 2025, the company has a val…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mistral_AI

+ 3 more evidence sources

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.