{
  "id": 2026049,
  "title": "AI companies buying books to scan and destroy, 404 Media investigation finds",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/19/ai-companies-buying-books-to-scan-and-destroy-404-media-investigation",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-08-19T21:30:25.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "CBS News",
    "slug": "cbs-news",
    "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/video/ai-companies-buying-books-scan-destroy-404-media-investigation-finds/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "Some used and independent bookstores have reported unexpectedly large book orders and suspect that the books are being scanned to train AI models and then destroyed. As part of a new investigative report, 404 Media put a tracking device in a book to see where it'd end up. Emanuel Maiberg, a journalist and co-founder at 404 Media, joins CBS News to discuss.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}