Book database company ISBNdb has removed a webpage advertising bulk book sourcing services tailored for large language model (LLM) training, following reporting by 404 Media on the industry practice of destroying physical books during the scanning process.
The removed page previously pitched the company as a "streamlined partner for sourcing printed books in bulk, tailored to your LLM training needs, delivered at the scale AI demands." While the active listing has been taken down, archives of the page remain accessible on the Internet Archive alongside a company blog post titled "Reframing the Destruction Narrative." In that post, the company argued that the physical value of destroyed books migrates into an intellectual cycle.
When questioned by 404 Media, ISBNdb claimed that the advertised service was never actually launched, describing the webpage as a "test of market interest."
Despite the denial, secondhand booksellers have reported an increase in online sales driven by third-party rebuyers purchasing old and obscure titles in unusual bulk patterns, according to Guardian Australia reporting. The scrutiny highlights ongoing concerns among authors and publishers regarding the acquisition methods used to build AI training datasets on PC and other platforms.