Business · 20 August 2026

Amazon's secret warehouse: Ripping spines off books to scan them

Reporters at 404 Media used a hidden Apple tracker to follow about 1,000 books from a mystery buyer to a Las Vegas warehouse. Workers there reportedly rip off the spines to digitally copy the texts, which Amazon says helps improve its services. Amazon refused to say if the data trains its AI models, but developers increasingly need older books to find reliable human writing.

By BriefTea Editorial · 20 August 2026 at 16:05

Reported by City AM · How we write briefs

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