How AI is giving forgotten books a new lease of life

In a small second-hand bookshop in Badalona, near Barcelona, Marcel Font observed something unusual. Canadian company Zoom Books had started purchasing books that had been gathering dust on shelves for years. Many of these were Catalan-language non-fiction works. Michael Strötter, a German bookseller, experienced a similar pattern.

At 2:53 a.m. on April 30th, 2026, the first order arrived from Zoom Books. More orders followed throughout the night. These companies have denied buying the books specifically for AI training purposes, but their refusal to disclose the identities of certain clients has fueled suspicions of hidden agendas.

According to court documents, Anthropic, the creator of Claude, acquired millions of printed books for a project named 'Project Panama'. This project involved hiring contractors to dismantle the books, remove their covers, cut the pages and scan them into digital files before discarding the physical copies. The process, known as 'destructive scanning', allowed the company to quickly convert the books into digital form.

The legality of using purchased books for AI training is a complex issue. In the Anthropic case, a federal judge ruled that converting lawfully purchased books into internal digital copies could fall under fair use. However, this decision does not mean that AI companies have unrestricted rights to use any book they have purchased. The US Copyright Office has cautioned against treating 'fair use' as a one-size-fits-all solution.

As high-quality human writing becomes scarcer, tech companies are turning back to printed books. The scarcity of quality writing is pushing these companies to seek alternative sources of fresh, varied, and non-duplicative text. However, the lack of transparency in these bulk purchases is raising eyebrows in the bookselling community.