AI companies destroy physical books – let's scan rare books before it's too late

AI companies like Anthropic are secretly purchasing millions of physical books through intermediaries, scanning them for training data, and then destroying them—a practice exposed through Anthropic's "Project Panama" which cost tens of millions of dollars. Anna's Archive is urging volunteers worldwide to urgently scan and digitize rare books before this cultural heritage is permanently lost to corporate servers and destruction. The companies destroy the physical books to prevent competitors from accessing them, reduce legal risks, and cut costs, despite the practice being ethically troubling even where legally permitted.