Story perspectives

U.S. AI firms buying, scanning millions of books for training

7/21/2026

Summary

Story summary

U.S. AI firms are buying millions of pre-2022 printed books for training data via ISBNdb, which hides buyer identities with NDAs.
A rare-books seller said weekly sales rose from about 20 to several hundred after April, suspecting AI buyers.
A January lawsuit disclosed Anthropic’s plan to scan and destroy millions of printed books, hiring Datamation for high-volume destructive and non-destructive scanning, as testified by Tom Harvey, Anthropic’s hired consultant.

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Story summary

U.S. AI firms are buying millions of pre-2022 printed books for training data via ISBNdb, which hides buyer identities with NDAs.
A rare-books seller said weekly sales rose from about 20 to several hundred after April, suspecting AI buyers.
A January lawsuit disclosed Anthropic’s plan to scan and destroy millions of printed books, hiring Datamation for high-volume destructive and non-destructive scanning, as testified by Tom Harvey, Anthropic’s hired consultant.