Amazon is destroying rare books in a Nevada warehouse to feed fresh data into large‑language models, a practice that has sparked criticism and legal debate. An AirTag hidden in a 1,000‑book order tracked the volume from California to Las Vegas, where it was sent to the LAS8 facility.

At LAS8, a print‑on‑demand hub, books are routed to a specific area known as VGT3. Here, spines are cut off and pages scanned into raw, unviewable data that'll train AI. The physical remnants are discarded, never meant for human readers.

Experts warn that AI models risk “model collapse” and hallucination when they learn from already‑generated data. Companies therefore seek untouched, unique material—rare books—despite the cultural loss. INTERNET sales of such titles have surged, and courts have upheld the practice if digitized copies aren’t sold.

The trend highlights a growing tension between technological progress and preservation of human knowledge, as AI demands continue to outpace new content creation.