AI giant Anthropic is running a training programme called Project Panama, which involves running millions of physical books through a hydraulic powered cutting machine that slices the spine clean off, so the loose pages can be scanned and the information fed to Claude, its popular large language model.

There are a few potential reasons why Anthropic would procure, cut, and scan physical books to feed to Claude: one reason is that older books are free from AI contamination and are therefore superior training material for an LLM. The other reason is that US copyright law enables AI companies to legally use purchased second-hand books for the purpose of training their LLMs without the copyright owner’s permission.

Directed, filmed and edited by Faith Cruz.
Written and presented by Robbie Nicol, based on The Spinoff article written by Claire Mabey.
Made with the support of NZ On Air.