{"id":15253783,"date":"2026-08-13T20:46:46","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T00:46:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/are-ai-companies-buying-books-from-dc-stores-to-destroy-them\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T21:33:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T01:33:48","slug":"are-ai-companies-buying-books-from-dc-stores-to-destroy-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/are-ai-companies-buying-books-from-dc-stores-to-destroy-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Are AI Companies Buying Books From DC Stores to Destroy Them?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In July, several news outlets <\/span>reported<\/span><\/a> that the AI company Anthropic was buying rare and antique books to scan for language model training\u2014and destroying the books in the process. That\u2019s because to use the books, they do what\u2019s called \u201cdestructive scanning,\u201d cutting the bindings off books and rendering them unusable.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Anthropic is destroying millions of physical books, including rare books with no surviving copies, to train their private model\u2026<\/p>\n

Legitimately evil. https:\/\/t.co\/AADYoNUHOB<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Geiger Capital (@Geiger_Capital) July 28, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0The stories sparked online outrage about the potential loss of rare titles. We wondered: Have DC-area booksellers noticed orders that might be coming from Anthropic or other AI companies training their models? If so, would they sell them the books?<\/span><\/p>\n

The answers: Yes, and it depends.<\/span><\/p>\n

Second Story Books tells <\/span>Washingtonian<\/span><\/i> that at the end of last year, they started to receive large orders for up to 100 books at a time. Most of the titles were University Press, academic texts, and other general interest nonfiction titles. Almost all the volumes were published between the 1970s and the 2020s, after ISBNs started tracking titles and before AI started producing text.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have sold thousands of volumes to, what we believe to be, AI training,\u201d says Zachary Green, who works with special collections at Second Story, which has multiple locations in the DC area.<\/span><\/p>\n

But it\u2019s impossible to know for sure. Institutions are able to place orders through concierges on most bookselling sites, where a university or library can provide a list of the titles it is looking for. The orders are placed on the institution’s behalf, which means a bookseller ships to a warehouse rather than a buyer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, Green says he\u2019s able to make an educated guess based on the quantity, price point, and shipping destination of an order. Sellers talk to each other, and, Green says, there are common shipping locations for these large orders.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite fears circulating online, Green says he hasn\u2019t received any orders for truly rare titles. Antiquarian Book Shop in Georgetown, which has a much smaller inventory of truly rare books, has not received any unusual orders, according to owner Susan Hale.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Green says most orders are for widely accessible titles, or volumes that have sat on shelves for years. In an effort to ensure that the store is preserving its unique inventory, Green says he now reviews every title in a large order.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf we see orders come in for items that it would be irresponsible to sell to them, we will cancel,\u201d he says. \u201cWe have not really seen that happen yet.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Not every bookseller sees that as an option. Robert Harper runs My Dead Aunt\u2019s Books in Hyattsville and Robert Harper Books, which lists around 36,000 titles online. Since January he says he\u2019s sold between $30,000 to $50,000 worth of older academic texts to these third-party buyers, with orders still coming in.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Harper says that online bookselling sites such as Amazon, Biblio, Alibris, and eBay all assign a fulfillment ranking to sellers. If an order gets cancelled, even partially, it can lower a rating. With too low a rating, sellers get kicked off the site and jeopardize their livelihood\u2014and the used-book business is infamously difficult as it is.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf I cancel two out of 100 books in an order from Amazon, I will be cut off as a seller,\u201d Harper says. \u201cI can\u2019t think about it morally or ethically, I have to fill the orders.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Harper also says that these large orders have kept his store afloat, especially as big orders from universities have tapered off amid funding cuts. Often, the orders are for arcane titles that aren\u2019t rare or valuable, but have been collecting dust on his shelves.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, the debate is fierce. Susan Benne, executive director of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America, says some booksellers are opposed to anything that could potentially train AI. She says ABAA had formed a working group on AI\u2019s impact on the rare-book trade even before news reports about destructive scanning, and that they are aware of the concerns. S<\/span>he says there\u2019s no precedent for booksellers monitoring their buyers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTypically when a bookseller gets an order,” Benne says, “they aren\u2019t asking, \u2018What are you going to do with the book afterwards?\u2019 \u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
Related<\/div>\n
\n A Virginia Man Went Missing. Did He Suffer From AI Psychosis?<\/a>\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

The post Are AI Companies Buying Books From DC Stores to Destroy Them?<\/a> first appeared on Washingtonian<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Source: News \u2013 World \u2013 Washington DC \u2013 rss.app1 \u2192 manual entry<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In July, several news outlets reported that the AI company Anthropic was buying rare and antique books to scan for language model training\u2014and destroying the books in the process. That\u2019s because to use the books, they do what\u2019s called \u201cdestructive\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15253785,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[124],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15253783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-dc"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15253783-img_3045-scaled.webp",2560,1717,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15253783-img_3045-300x201.webp",300,201,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15253783-img_3045-620x416.webp",620,416,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15253783-img_3045-768x515.webp",768,515,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15253783-img_3045-940x630.webp",940,630,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15253783-img_3045-1536x1030.webp",1536,1030,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15253783-img_3045-2048x1374.webp",2048,1374,true],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15253783-img_3045-998x665.webp",998,665,true],"ignition_item":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15253783-img_3045-670x446.webp",670,446,true],"ignition_item_lg":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15253783-img_3045-1340x894.webp",1340,894,true],"ignition_article_media":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15253783-img_3045-510x510.webp",510,510,true],"ignition_minicart_item":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15253783-img_3045-160x160.webp",160,160,true],"profile_24":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15253783-img_3045-24x24.webp",24,24,true],"profile_48":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15253783-img_3045-48x48.webp",48,48,true],"profile_96":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15253783-img_3045-96x96.webp",96,96,true],"profile_150":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15253783-img_3045-150x150.webp",150,150,true],"profile_300":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/15253783-img_3045-300x300.webp",300,300,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"news.iNthacity","author_link":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/author\/atombo\/"},"category_info":"Washington DC<\/a>","tag_info":"Washington DC","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15253783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15253783"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15253783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15253784,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15253783\/revisions\/15253784"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15253785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15253783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15253783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15253783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}