About this episode

The episode discusses how AI companies are acquiring and destroying old books for training data, featuring a journalist's investigation using an AirTag.

Today's episode of The Indo Daily is brought to you by our sister podcast The Big Tech Show, as Adrian Weckler is joined by Emanuel Maiberg, journalist and co founder of 404 Media, to explore how AI companies are buying up old and rare books for training data. They discuss reports of books being physically cut apart and scanned, why obscure manuals and textbooks are particularly valuable to AI companies, and what could be lost when printed material is destroyed. Maiberg also explains how 404 Media tracked a shipment using an AirTag and uncovered evidence of books being scanned and destroyed at an Amazon warehouse. https://www.independent.ie/service/why-you-can-trust-the-irish-independent/a/98708550.html See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People in this episode

Host: Adrian Weckler

Guest: Emanuel Maiberg

Topics covered

• AI companies
• book tracking
• data privacy
• digital destruction
• journalism

Keywords

• AirTag
• AI giants
• book pulping
• 404 Media
• journalism
• Amazon warehouse
• training data

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: 404 Media, Amazon, The Big Tech Show, Irish Independent

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