Google to acquire Spirit Airlines data for $10 million for AI training

Google has agreed to purchase a massive collection of internal business data from the defunct Spirit Airlines for $10 million. The acquisition, conducted through a bankruptcy auction, aims to provide high-quality datasets to train Google’s artificial intelligence models and improve its products.

The data package is extensive, reportedly including approximately 100 million employee emails, 500 million Microsoft Teams messages, 30 million lines of software code, and various operational records such as pricing models, flight histories, and employee productivity data. To protect privacy, a third party will rigorously scrub the material to remove all personally identifiable information before it is transferred to Google. The sale specifically excludes passenger profiles, loyalty program data, and credit card information.

Google outbid the AI data firm Mercor, which had submitted a $7.5 million bid. The transaction is currently awaiting final approval from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. However, the sale faces opposition from the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which has filed an objection seeking greater protections for employee data and concerns regarding the potential for reconstructing individual identities from linked datasets. A court hearing to address these matters has been delayed to September 9.