AI公司Anthropic被曝通过代号为"巴拿马计划"的项目大规模购买、扫描并销毁纸质书用于训练Claude模型。根据该公司内部文件，这一行动被描述为"对全世界所有书籍进行破坏性扫描"，且Anthropic明确表示"不希望外界知道我们正在做这件事"[1]。该计划涉及数百万本纸质书的处理，其中包括冷门书籍和绝版书[1]。
这一做法的规模相当庞大。Anthropic曾从Books3、LibGen等资源库下载超过700万本书[1]，项目方案计划在半年内处理50万至200万本书[1]。公司特别偏好2022年以前出版的纸质书[1]。与此同时，二手书商的采购需求激增，从2025年4月开始周订单从20本猛增到数百本[1]。
美国法院在2025年6月的判例中认定这种做法属于合理使用，法官威廉·阿尔萨普做出了对Anthropic有利的裁决[1]。但该事件仍引发了关于绝版书永久消失风险的广泛担忧[1]。
AI company Anthropic has engaged in a large-scale operation to purchase, scan, and destroy millions of physical books to train its Claude model, according to internal documents and market activity uncovered in recent reporting [1]. The initiative, referred to internally as the "Panama Plan," has targeted rare, out-of-print, and niche publications, raising alarm about the permanent erasure of cultural artifacts from the physical world [1].
Anthropic previously downloaded over 7 million books from sources including Books3 and LibGen [1]. Internal communications reveal the company's awareness of the controversial nature of the effort; one document states: "The Panama Plan is our destructive scanning operation on all books worldwide," while another notes: "We do not want the outside world to know we are doing this" [1]. A project proposal outlined plans to process between 500,000 and 2 million books within a six-month timeframe [1]. Market indicators have reflected the activity, with second-hand book sellers reporting a dramatic surge in weekly orders from approximately 20 units in April 2025 to several hundred units thereafter [1]. The company has shown particular preference for physical books published before 2022 [1].
In June 2025, a U.S. court ruling by Judge William Alsup determined that Anthropic's practices constitute fair use, providing legal cover for the operation [1]. However, the decision has not quelled broader concerns about the loss of out-of-print and culturally significant works that may disappear permanently as a result of the systematic destruction [1].
