Google buys Spirit Airlines data for AI training for just $10 million — purchase includes hundreds of millions of emails, Microsoft Teams chats, billions of flight pricing records, and anonymized passenger records

Spirit Airlines, which went bankrupt and ceased operations on May 2nd, is selling its assets in bankruptcy court auctions to settle its debts. According to Bloomberg Law, Google LLC outbid AI-focused recruitment firm Mercor.io Corp. for the airline's data, paying $10 million compared to Mercor.io's $7.5 million offer. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for New York's Southern District designated Mercor.io as the alternate buyer if Google's deal doesn't go through.

The tech giant plans to utilize the substantial data for training its AI large language models (LLMs). The purchased data encompasses 100 million emails, 500 million Microsoft Teams chats, 7.2 billion flight records, 7.5 billion passenger transaction records from 2008, and over 175,000 employee records from 1986. Additionally, Google will obtain information on revenue, aircraft operations, employee productivity, audits and fraud, marketing campaigns, human resources records, project management, and pricing curve data.

While this data could raise privacy concerns due to AI's track record in this area, the company will not receive personal information, such as the 97.5 million passenger profiles or 50.2 million loyalty program records. Moreover, the court stated that all data provided to Google will be thoroughly anonymized by a third party before receipt.

Google is reportedly interested in acquiring unique data, especially as many companies are suspected of amassing vast collections of books to train AI models after initially scraping the internet. The airline's data is valuable due to its scarcity on the internet and the specialized information gathered over its decades-long operations.

Google can leverage this to develop aviation-focused AI models for airlines. However, the integration of AI in the aviation industry, which is traditionally conservative and safety-focused, remains uncertain. Nonetheless, both Google and other AI companies are likely to explore this sector as air travel is expected to increase in the future.