Google Wins Auction for Spirit Airlines' Data
Google has acquired Spirit Airlines' old data for $10 million to improve its AI models. The budget airline went bankrupt earlier this year, and a Chapter 11 bankruptcy court filing revealed that Google successfully bid on the corporate data.
The data includes Spirit Airlines' internal records, but not customer or credit card information. A Google spokesperson confirmed that the company is purchasing the data to enhance its products and AI models.
A rival bidder, AI training startup Mercor, attempted to acquire the data for $7.5 million. However, Google outbid them with a final offer of $10 million.
The move comes as tech companies seek alternative sources of training data, as they have largely exhausted the open internet. Corporate data is particularly valuable for AI model development, as it can help train bots to handle customer complaints and debug websites.