{"slug": "ai-companies-are-anonymously-buying-and-destroying-millions-of-books-through-to", "title": "AI companies are anonymously buying and destroying millions of books through middleman services to avoid headlines about AI companies buying and destroying millions of books", "summary": "AI companies are anonymously buying millions of books through middleman services to train large language models, then destroying the books to avoid negative headlines, according to a report from PC Gamer. The practice involves purchasing entire print runs of copyrighted works without public attribution, raising ethical and legal concerns about data sourcing for AI training.", "body_md": "Join the club for quick access. Enter your email below and we'll send confirmation, and sign you up to our newsletter.\n\nBy submitting your information, you confirm you are aged 16 or over,\nhave read our\n[Privacy Policy](https://futureplc.com/privacy-policy/)\nand agree to the\n[Terms & Conditions](https://futureplc.com/future-member-terms-and-conditions/). Geographical rules apply.\n\nYour membership journey starts here.\n\nKeep exploring and earning more as a member.\n\nStay Ahead with PC Gamer\n\nGet the biggest gaming news, reviews, and releases straight to your inbox.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-companies-are-anonymously-buying-and-destroying-millions-of-books-through-to", "canonical_source": "https://www.pcgamer.com/software/ai/ai-companies-are-anonymously-buying-and-destroying-millions-of-books-through-middleman-services-to-avoid-headlines-about-ai-companies-buying-and-destroying-millions-of-books/", "published_at": "2026-07-28 21:42:49+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-28 22:01:42.268588+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "large-language-models", "ai-ethics", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["PC Gamer"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-companies-are-anonymously-buying-and-destroying-millions-of-books-through-to", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-companies-are-anonymously-buying-and-destroying-millions-of-books-through-to.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-companies-are-anonymously-buying-and-destroying-millions-of-books-through-to.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-companies-are-anonymously-buying-and-destroying-millions-of-books-through-to.jsonld"}}