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AI companies are scanning and destroying old books

Rob Beschizza
Jul 30, 2026
∙ Paid

old books

AI companies are buying old books, scanning them and destroying the remains, writes Emanuel Maiberg at 404 Media. The program is enabled by ISBNdb, maintainers of a vast book database, which helps them buy vintage physical media in bulk: “The world’s best AI training data is sitting on a shelf,” its pitch reads.

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