Privacy Hell: Google Buys Bankrupt Spirit Airlines' Data Trove to Train AI Models

Google has agreed to pay $10 million for Spirit Airlines’ internal data trove, bought during the bankrupt carrier’s ongoing asset auctions, Bloomberg Law reported. The deal gives Google data to train its AI large language models, and includes 100 million emails, 500 million Microsoft Teams chats, 7.2 billion records tracking competitors’ flights, and 7.5 billion passenger transaction records dating back to 2008, plus more than 175,000 employee records dating to 1986. The $10 million bid beat Mercor.io’s $7.5 million offer, with Mercor.io named as a backup if the purchase falls through. Court records say Google will not receive personal data, stating transferred data will be “rigorously scrubbed” of personally identifiable information by a third party before receipt.