Anthropic's mass book-scanning for Claude sparks bulk-order alarm at bookstores
Toronto used-bookstore owners say strangers are buying up unsellable stock in bulk, a pattern tied to AI firms sourcing training material after Anthropic's book-scanning operation came to light.
What to know
- Canadian booksellers report unfamiliar buyers making large, no-negotiation bulk purchases of unsellable inventory, a pattern that surfaced after a U.S. lawsuit revealed Anthropic's mass destructive scanning of books to train Claude.
- Named buyers include Zoom Books (B.C.) and Innodata (New Jersey AI data company), though CBC describes the link to AI training as suspected, not confirmed, for every order.
- A separate tracking-device investigation linked one shipment to an Amazon warehouse the company confirmed is used to prepare AI training material.
- Advice to booksellers centers on verifying buyer identity, using traceable payment, and negotiating price rather than accepting bulk offers at face value; online discussion is split over whether AI book-scanning constitutes fair use or infringement.
The dispute Whether AI training on scanned books legally qualifies as transformative fair use or as unlicensed commercial copying is unresolved and hotly contested in the thread. · positions read across 23 posts and comments
Scanning books to train AI is transformative/fair use and not equivalent to copying or redistribution.
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“LLM training is generally transformational, they are using the book to create a map of how language is used in practice, rather than caring about any particular detail for phrasing.”
WorBlux · Reddit ↗
Scanning books for a commercial AI product is unlicensed copying and copyright infringement, not fair use.
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“The act of scanning a book is “copying” it, so you need to have a copyright or an exception to do that. To scan for yourself is fair use, to scan for commercial purposes is absolutely not allowed.”
OkayContributor · Reddit ↗
The story is a recycled template with the location swapped and isn't actually evidence of anything suspicious.
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“This is just the same article that gets posted here everyday when the location of the sellers being changed... There is nothing suspicious with booksellers that sell bulk books receiving orders for bulk books.”
Suppafly · Reddit ↗
The deeper concern is concentrated AI companies destroying source material while consolidating informational power.
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“The few megaconglomerates active in the AI space are run by anti-humanist people controlling the information output. If they destroy the information from which they derived their power then how can you say that the scenario they're…”
Caspica · Reddit ↗
Anthropic AI company operating Claude chatbotPatrick Hempelmann Owner, BMV Books (Toronto)Peter Sellers Owner, Sellers & Newel (Toronto)Innodata New Jersey-based AI data companyZoom Books Pitt Meadows, B.C. book reseller and recyclerAmazon Logistics/warehouse operator
How it unfolded 3 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump articlespostscomments
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Redditors dismiss the story as a recycled, relocated template
Commenters note the same article format has circulated before with different countries named, questioning whether bulk orders for bulk-sale bookstores are actually 'suspicious.'
“This is just the same article that gets posted here everyday when the location of the sellers being changed.”
— Suppafly -
"I looked at a bunch of books on my shelf and they all have "all rights reserved"-Just because a book says something is forbidden, doesn't mean the law says that. The law explicitly allows fair use. From the US copyright office, "Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of…
2 more of the top 3 · 13 posts in this stretch
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Agreed, but you're saying that the scenario 10 years in the future isn't happening right now. The few megaconglomerates active in the AI space are run by anti-humanist people controlling the information output. If they destroy the information from which they derived their power then how can you say that the scenario they're painting isn't…
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This is just the same article that gets posted here everyday when the location of the sellers being changed. I've seen this three or four times now, last time it was "Japanese booksellers flag suspicious..." There is nothing suspicious with booksellers that sell bulk books receiving orders for bulk books.
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Comment thread splits over whether AI book-scanning is fair use
A lengthy reddit discussion argues over whether destructive scanning of books to train AI models constitutes fair use/transformative use or unlicensed commercial copying, citing ongoing lawsuits and publisher licensing deals.
“currently looking to purchase large volumes of secondhand books…”
— Innodata representative, AI data company representative (via LinkedIn message) · source -
https://lawyerinfo.ca/guides/money-taxes-ip/intellectual-property/copyright-exhaustion-first-sale-doctrine-equivalents-in-canada/ Copyright Exhaustion: First Sale Doctrine Equivalents in Canada . While the United States refers to this legal concept explicitly as the "First Sale Doctrine," Canada approaches this through the legal principle of the…
2 more of the top 3 · 10 posts in this stretch
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Format shifting for personal use it generally considered fair use. LLM training is generally transformational, they are using the book to create a map of how language is used in practice, rather than caring about any particular detail for phrasing. On the other side it's commercial use which weights away from a finding of fair use, and the…
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I don’t think you could argue that using the books for AI is the same as copying it. In reality the text was fed to a model and based on the output of the model a matrix of numbers were tweaked. If it were straight forward then we would have seen some action in the courts by now. Of course since I’m not frothing at the mouth with hatred of AI in…
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CBC-sourced report flags bulk-order pattern and advises caution
Coverage picked up from CBC News describes a growing but unconfirmed suspicion among Canadian booksellers that bulk buyers are sourcing AI training material, and advises sellers to verify buyer identity, use traceable payment, and negotiate price before accepting such offers.
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first by Yahoo! Finance Canada, 1d ago
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background
Innodata representative solicits bulk secondhand books via LinkedIn — Bookseller Peter Sellers of Sellers & Newel received a LinkedIn message from a representative of Innodata, a New Jersey AI data company, saying it was 'currently looking to purchase large volumes of secondhand books' and 'exploring potential sourcing partners.'
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background
Tracked book shipment traced to Amazon AI-training warehouse — A separate investigation using a hidden tracking device in a shipment of books traced an order to an Amazon warehouse in Las Vegas, which the company confirmed is used to prepare AI training material.
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background
Lawsuit reveals Anthropic's destructive book-scanning for Claude training — A U.S. copyright lawsuit surfaced evidence that Anthropic spent tens of millions of dollars buying physical books and 'destructively scanning' them — slicing off spines to digitize pages and recycling the rest — to train its Claude chatbot.
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background
Zoom Books begins large bulk orders at a Toronto bookstore — BMV Books owner Patrick Hempelmann says Zoom Books, a B.C. book reseller and recycler, began placing large orders roughly six months ago for older technical and academic titles with small print runs.
What people are saying 17 voices from 1 site · best of 23 · verbatim
- Is the link between bulk book-buying and AI training verified for any given buyer, or just suspected?
- Will ongoing lawsuits in the U.S. and Canada settle whether AI training scans qualify as fair use?
- Sep 27
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where is that information preserved exactly? can you send me a link to these preservation copies? i'd love to see them.
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"Ever heard of a copyright strike?"-Ever heard of copyright trolls? Copyright troll - Wikipedia
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We talked about this in class Billy, copying your classmates before changing the paragraphs around isn't 'making something new'.
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You've been on this thread for an hour getting downvoted for parroting AI shill talking points so you figure it's best to strawman a new argument to pivot to huh? Be less work to concede and reconsider your points
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Xerox, Einstein. Pretty hard to take your opinions as being informed or well educated when you're getting simple things like that wrong.
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Are the AI supporters people? Reddit has a problem with their fundamentals when bots upvote pro AI posts
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They're not doing whatever. They're using them to train the AI. Which is not making a copy of it just reading it.
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Lololol. It's a shock to see someone that knows what they are talking about. Most of the comments here are based on misinformation and a lack of understanding (no lack of hate) of training AI works.
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So you knowingly made a useless comparison? “Guys look some people paid for rights to things” yeah, no shit.
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So literally all you’re saying is “well some books are public domain” Yeah no shit
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There is action in the courts right now in many countries including the U.S. and Canada.
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Along with a whole host of others, yea. Considering the people who’d have to do the updating, though, I’m not holding my breath lol
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Right, I’m saying that scanning it to feed to my AI model is personal use and not redistribution.
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The act of scanning a book is “copying” it, so you need to have a copyright or an exception to do that. To scan for yourself is fair use, to scan for commercial purposes is absolutely not allowed. There also has been action in courts, major publishers have sued and gotten licensing contracts out of these companies
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it’s so crazy to me that one of the main things people use to detract against ai, a thing which famously has loads of terrible things against it, is the utterly ridiculous notion of intellectual property
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Copyright law does explicitly protect against unlicensed use of creative works, I’m not sure which jurisdiction you are in?
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This is still a better use of old books than assholes buying them up and organizing them by colour on shelves for decor to cosplay as intellectuals.