Suspicious bulk orders of used books have long raised concerns among booksellers that AI companies are purchasing them to scan and use as training material without author consent or payment. An AirTag hidden inside a rare book sold as part of a bulk order appears to confirm the theory after it ended up at an Amazon AI training facility.

Booksellers specializing in used books typically receive orders for individual titles or small numbers of related books. However, many have reported receiving massive bulk orders for used books, with no apparent connection between the titles. The suspicion is that AI companies strip the bindings and use high-speed scanning equipment to ingest the text and feed it into AI systems.

404 Media's investigation used a tracking device in a shipment of rare books to identify which AI company was purchasing them. They found an Amazon facility where Amazon scans and destroys books. Employees confirmed the process involves large shipments of printed books, with staff slicing bindings off to scan pages faster, destroying the book in the process.

Used books are especially valuable because anything published after 2022 may include text written or edited by AI systems. Intellectual property laws have not yet caught up with this practice, though a 2025 US ruling declared it lawful as "transformative" use.