Google buys Spirit Airlines' internal archives for $10 million

AI actors are paying companies for access to anonymized internal archives, and some programs have already been halted. In this context, Google won the bid for Spirit Airlines' corporate data with an offer of $10 million, outbidding the startup Mercor. The scope excludes customer information, according to the ongoing bankruptcy proceedings.

Micro1 pays $100,000 to $2 million to 50 companies for data

Corporate data collection is becoming a structured market. Micro1 announced a program rewarding 50 mid-sized companies between $100,000 and $2 million for access to anonymized datasets. In the same vein, more intrusive initiatives have emerged: Meta launched a system to track employees' keystrokes and mouse movements to improve computer usage by its AI. The company ultimately suspended this program after an internal data exposure and significant employee backlash.

Anonymization confirmed and exclusion of customer information

The data provided by Spirit will be fully anonymized, and no customer records will be transmitted. Google states it is purchasing internal data and customized software from the company, excluding customer information and credit card data. The group believes that this data can help improve its products and AI models.

A competitive auction, from $5 million to $10 million

The sale led to a bidding competition. Google opened at $5 million, Mercor countered with $5.2 million, then indicated it would pay $7 million if it received the raw data first before anonymization. The auction concluded with a $10 million offer from Google, which was accepted by the proceedings.

Mercor values internal archives for model training

Mercor, a specialist in model training, defends the value of operational archives, which it describes as prime materials for training and evaluating AI. The company claims to collaborate with leading firms to license their data to laboratories developing the next generation of models, presenting the Spirit case as the application of this process to a bankruptcy asset. Spirit, a low-cost airline that filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, has not commented beyond the judicial elements. Corporate data is presented as useful, for example, for training bots to handle claims or debug websites.