AI companies are reportedly buying up millions of books, some of which are rare, and using them to train AI models, often destroying the book in the process. And we now have more specifics about how this process works, thanks to an investigation from 404 Media. The outlet placed a tracking device inside a rare book that was part of a large, 1,000-book order — and it ended up in a Las Vegas Amazon warehouse.
Employees who spoke to 404 Media said they spend their time at the facility (named VGT3) cutting the spines off of books and feeding them into a scanner. VGT3 is reportedly part of another, larger facility in Las Vegas called LAS8. Its purpose, according to the employees who spoke to 404 media, is solely to cut the spines off books and scan them. "All we do is scan books," one employee told the outlet.
