Report: Amazon scans books for AI data, destroys them at North Las Vegas facility

Amazon, which operates 19 facilities in Southern Nevada, scans and shreds books at its LAS8 warehouse in North Las Vegas, according to a 404 Media investigation.

Some used and independent bookstores have reported unexpectedly large book orders and suspect that the books are being scanned to train AI models and then destroyed. As part of a new investigative report, 404 Media put a tracking device in a book to see where it'd end up. Emanuel Maiberg, a journalist and co-founder at

A 404 Media investigation tracked a rare book to an Amazon warehouse in Las Vegas where workers cut spines off books to scan them

Amazon is reportedly buying books and destroying them to help build out a new technology.

Not too many years ago, before the dawn of Kindles, used bookstores were a refuge for budget-minded, voracious readers. As the industry evolved, many suffered. Now they’re seeing a resurgence in sales, but the customers increasingly aren’t bookworms. They’re AI companies. Barter Books, for instance, typically sells 2,0