In a sign of just how valuable corporate data has become to AI companies, a little-known startup has swept in to try to preempt Google’s bid to purchase decades-worth of documents, emails, and data from bankrupt Spirit Airlines.
Micro1, which was founded in 2022 and is based in Palo Alto, has proposed paying $12.5 million for the trove of records, beating Google’s previous top bid of $10 million. Google itself had beaten out Mercor, which provides data to AI companies, which had bid $7.5 million.
The sale has already proved controversial, with unions representing flight attendants and consumer privacy advocates filing legal objections on the grounds that sensitive personal information of former Spirit employees and customers is contained in the data set and may not be properly redacted or anonymized prior to its transfer to Google.
A court-appointed privacy watchdog reviewing Google’s proposed purchase of the Spirit data has said it needs more time to investigate Micro1 if the bankruptcy court considers the company as the buyer. The startup has offered additional privacy promises as part of its bid, as well as offering a 25% price premium.
