Dead Airline’s Emails Just Became a $10 Million AI Prize
Spirit Airlines shut down in May, its second Chapter 11 bankruptcy in two years, leaving behind planes, airport slots and a loyalty program to be sold off piece by piece. Google wanted none of that. Instead, it paid $10 million at auction for something airlines rarely think of as a sellable asset at all: the […] The post Dead Airline’s Emails Just Became a $10 Million AI Prize appeared first on…
Spirit Airlines, after filing for its second Chapter 11 bankruptcy in two years, recently auctioned off the internal digital records of its operations. This unique sale included roughly 100 million employee emails, 500 million Microsoft Teams messages, over 17 million OneDrive files, over 20 million SharePoint items, and 516 code repositories containing about 30 million lines of custom software.
The data also encompassed more than 175,000 employee records from 1986, along with data on aircraft operations, revenue management, and productivity. Google secured the purchase at $10 million, doubling its initial bid from $5 million. The acquisition was made to enhance Google's AI models, as the data offers a unique perspective on real-world business operations that cannot be generated synthetically.
The sale, which excludes sensitive passenger information, represents a new category of assets to be sold in bankruptcy proceedings, potentially opening up new revenue streams for failing companies with substantial digital records.
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