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Japanese used bookstores see 5x sales surge as books are bought by the ton for AI scanning and destruction
1 report1 sourceupdated 5 days ago
What happened
Summary
日本多家二手书店报告销量暴涨了5倍，买家成吨收购旧书。有一笔确认的订单是50吨书，直接发往美国，流程是扫描完就销毁。书店老板们认为这些书最终进了海外的“扫描-粉碎”工厂，大概率是给大模型当训练数据。目前没有任何公司公开认领这些采购，文章也没点名具体是哪家AI公司在背后收书。
Coverage
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Sep 24
- Hacker News front pagePickJapanese used bookstores see 5x sales surge as books are bought by the ton for AI scanning and destruction
Japanese used bookstores report a 5x sales surge driven by bulk buyers purchasing books by the ton. One confirmed 50-ton order was shipped to the US for scanning and destruction. Bookstore owners say the books end up in overseas scan-and-shred facilities, likely as training data for large models. No company has publicly claimed the purchases, and the article doesn't name specific AI firms behind the buys.