As of: 2026-10-17 22:10 CEST.
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# How books are being scanned and destroyed to train artificial intelligence • FRANCE 24 English

FRANCE 24 English, 16 October 2026, YouTube. 97,063 views as of 17 October 2026.
Kind: Review.
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q4Uzw8SG-0

## Why it is here

France 2 report (4 min) on millions of physical books being digitised and destroyed to train AI, and the risk that rare second-hand books disappear. The description is tagged #Amazon; whether it names Anthropic's Project Panama is not yet checked. About 97k views.

## Description (written by Gemini from the video)

**Summary**  
This news report by France 24 investigates how tech and AI companies—specifically Amazon and Anthropic—source, scan, and destroy physical second-hand and rare books to train artificial intelligence models. The segment features interviews with second-hand booksellers in France, an investigative journalist who tracked books using GPS tags, and an AI industry expert explaining why AI labs are turning to undigitized physical literature.

**What is shown**  
- **[00:14]** CBS News segment reporting that physical books are scanned to train AI and subsequently destroyed.
- **[00:28]** Inside *Le Livre Vert*, a second-hand bookseller warehouse in Bordeaux, France, where staff observed anomalous high-volume book orders.
- **[00:53]** E-commerce listings and automated ordering timestamps showing bulk purchases made every minute (e.g., 100 books at 04:40, 50 at 04:41, 27 at 04:42).
- **[01:21]** Order dashboard displaying the intermediary company name: *Fulfillment Box / Zoom Books*.
- **[01:34]** Insertion of a GPS tracker into the spine of a book by investigative outlet *404 Media*.
- **[01:42]** Aerial satellite imagery and facility photos of the Amazon fulfillment center (VGT3) near Las Vegas, Nevada, featuring a dinosaur mascot eating a book.
- **[01:54]** Reddit forum posts from warehouse workers discussing scanning books at VGT3.
- **[02:05]** Video interview with Emanuel Maiberg, journalist at *404 Media*.
- **[02:23]** Footage showing books having their spines sliced off with blades, loose pages fed into high-speed document scanners, and discarded shredded/cut pages dumped in trash bins.
- **[03:11]** Interview with Ari Kouts, AI manager at Wavestone, discussing the exhaustion of online text data.
- **[03:44]** Unsealed internal Anthropic legal document titled "Project Panama" (Owner: Tom Turvey, dated Apr 13, 2024), outlining efforts to destructively scan books.

**Claims & numbers**  
- **Amazon launch**: Jeff Bezos launched Amazon a little over 30 years ago as "Earth's biggest bookstore" (the narrator says).
- **Volume and spend at Le Livre Vert**: Nearly 1,200 books were ordered for a total of €20,000 by Canadian entity Zoom Books / Fulfillment Box (the narrator says).
- **Order cadence**: An automated buyer bought 100 books at 04:40 AM, 50 at 04:41 AM, and 27 at 04:42 AM (Vera DaCunha says).
- **Amazon statement**: An Amazon spokesperson stated to *Inc.*: *"Amazon purchases books through commercial channels to help develop and improve the products and services our customers use."*
- **Anthropic book destruction**: Anthropic admitted in legal filings to having destructively scanned millions of books to train its models under "Project Panama" (the narrator says).
- **Anthropic statement**: An Anthropic spokesperson stated: *"None of our data acquisition programs buy and destroy rare or antiquarian books."*
- **US legal status**: There is currently no US law prohibiting the destruction or destructive scanning of legally purchased physical books to train AI (the narrator says).

**Notable quotes**  
- *"A human couldn't do that, it was definitely automated."* — Vera DaCunha [01:13]
- *"All we do is scan books. It's so cool."* — Amazon VGT3 warehouse worker post on Reddit [02:01]
- *"Project Panama is our effort to destructively scan all the books in the world."* — Anthropic internal memo [03:54]

**Assessment**  
This is a factual investigative broadcast report produced by France 24 incorporating real-world tracking, interviews, physical book-deconstruction footage, and unsealed court documents. All claims and demonstrations are supported by verifiable investigative reporting and published statements from the involved companies.

_Described by gemini-3.8-flash on 2026-10-17 from the video's audio and frames._

## Related

- 2026-10-07: [Japanese wholesaler Nippan confirms it sold books to Anthropic](https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-10-07-nippan-confirms-book-sales-to-anthropic-project-panama/)
- 2026-01-27: [Project Panama: Anthropic's destructive book scanning revealed](https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-01-27-anthropic-project-panama-book-scanning-revealed/)

What else happened that month, day by day: https://postcutoff.com/timeline/2026/10/