The unusual way Google is involved in the Spirit Airlines bankruptcy—and what that means for you

Spirit Airlines' abrupt shutdown in May marked the first time a major U.S. airline entirely halted operations in 25 years. This unprecedented move led to the company being stripped for parts, including its planes, real estate, flight slots, and data. All of Spirit's data, such as internal communications, spreadsheets, calendars, transactions, frequent flyer information, and more, were auctioned off.

Remarkably, Google emerged as the highest bidder, offering $10 million for the entire dataset. Google stated that they intend to use the data to train its artificial intelligence models, though the data will reportedly be stripped of all identifying information before the sale is complete. Other AI companies, such as AI data startup Mercor, also showed interest in the data, with Mercor bidding $7.5 million.

When U.S. bankruptcy judge Sean Lane considers approving the data sale on Wednesday, some predict this could set a new precedent in the AI industry, possibly leading to more data sales from bankrupt companies in the future.