Data is often described as the new gold, particularly because of its value in training AI systems. Google has now won a bankruptcy auction to acquire a large collection of Spirit Airlines’ internal business data and technology assets for $10 million, or more than Rs 95 crore. The company intends to use the acquired data to train and improve its AI models.
The bid was part of the bankruptcy proceedings following Spirit Airlines’ shutdown in May this year. Google emerged as the highest bidder, while AI startup Mercor placed the second-highest bid of $7.5 million, or around Rs 71.75 lakh. The transaction still requires approval from a US bankruptcy judge, with a hearing scheduled for August 19. If the court does not approve Google’s bid, Mercor will serve as the backup buyer.
GOOGLE PLANS TO USE DATA FOR AI TRAINING
Google has confirmed that it intends to use Spirit Airlines’ data to improve its AI systems.
“We acquired part of an enterprise dataset from Spirit Airlines, which can be helpful in improving our products and AI models,” the company said in a statement cited by Axios.
Court documents state that the information will be de-identified before being transferred to Google, ensuring it cannot be connected to individual people.
Google said it would not receive personal information as part of the dataset and that a third party would thoroughly remove personally identifiable information before the company receives the data.
The material being acquired includes de-identified business records from Spirit Airlines, including more than 100 million employee emails, around 500 million Microsoft Teams messages, spreadsheets, calendars and other operational information.
PRICING DATA AND MILLIONS OF LINES OF CODE
The broader dataset contains a wide range of corporate information, including marketing materials, human resources records, strategic and project management documents, financial databases, audit records, fraud-related information, revenue data, aircraft operations records and employee productivity information.
Court filings also mention pricing information covering around 7.2 billion competitor flights, approximately 7.5 billion passenger transaction records dating back to 2008, and pricing curve data.
Google’s acquisition will also include roughly 30 million lines of software code, development metadata, software models and algorithms. The dataset further contains more than 175,000 employee records dating back to 1986.
However, the transaction excludes personal information and privileged materials. This includes Spirit’s 97.5 million passenger profiles and an estimated 50.2 million records associated with its Free Spirit loyalty programme.
Spirit Airlines ceased operations on May 2 during its second Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in two years, following a period of mounting debt. The low-cost carrier had accumulated around $8.1 billion in debt and laid off approximately 17,000 employees when it shut down.
