{"slug": "google-just-got-a-boost-in-its-bid-to-buy-spirit-airlines-data-for-ai-training", "title": "Google just got a boost in its bid to buy Spirit Airlines’ data for AI training", "summary": "A court-appointed consumer privacy ombudsman, Lucy Thomson, recommended in a Monday filing that Spirit Airlines' proposed $10 million sale of passenger data to Google be approved, saying the companies revised the data scope, excluded passenger databases, and hired Tonic.ai to de-identify personal information. Thomson said the changes would significantly reduce potential harm to the 97 million consumers who provided personal data to Spirit, and that privacy risks had been \"eliminated or mitigated.\" The sale, which Google says will help improve its products and AI models, still requires court approval at an October 14 hearing, with Spirit flight attendant and pilot unions and the American Airlines pilots union objecting.", "body_md": "# Google just got a boost in its bid to buy Spirit Airlines’ data for AI training\n\n[Business Insider](https://www.businessinsider.com)\n\nGoogle's bid for Spirit Airlines' data got a boost after a court-appointed official said the companies addressed consumer privacy concerns.\n\n- Google just got a win in its bid to buy Spirit Airlines' old data for $10 million.\n- A court-appointed consumer privacy ombudsman recommended the sale be approved.\n- The official said the companies had addressed consumer privacy concerns.\n\nGoogle just got a win in its effort to [buy Spirit Airlines' old data](https://www.businessinsider.com/google-buys-spirit-airlines-data-ai-model-development-2026-8).\n\nA court-appointed consumer privacy official recommended the sale be approved in a filing on Monday, citing steps taken by Spirit and Google to address risks to passenger privacy.\n\n\"The parties have taken consequential steps to protect the privacy of the personal data of the Spirit consumers,\" Lucy Thomson, the consumer privacy ombudsman, said.\n\nThe filing said the companies revised the scope of personal consumer data included in the sale, excluded passenger databases, and hired a third party, Tonic.ai, to conduct de-identification of data that could contain consumers' personal information, such as company emails.\n\n\"These changes will significantly reduce the potential risk of harm to the 97 million consumers who provided their personal data to Spirit for the purpose of booking airline travel,\" the filing said, adding that any risk of privacy losses to consumers had been \"eliminated or mitigated.\"\n\nAfter Spirit Airlines shut down in May, [Google won an auction](https://www.businessinsider.com/micro1-challenges-google-bid-spirit-airlines-data-2026-8) for its data with a $10 million bid. The sale still requires court approval. Google has said the data would help improve its products and AI models.\n\nUnions representing Spirit flight attendants and pilots have filed objections to the sale, saying it would undermine their privacy. The union that represents [American Airlines pilots](https://www.businessinsider.com/american-airlines-pilots-union-opposes-spirits-data-sale-to-google-2026-10), including some 700 who formerly worked for Spirit, joined the objection in a filing last week, arguing the sale could hinder aviation safety.\n\nA representative for Spirit did not provide additional comment when reached by Business Insider. Google did not respond to a request for comment. The company previously said that personally identifying information would not be included in the sale.\n\n\"Google is not buying any personal information from Spirit. The information will either be completely excluded or will be deidentified by an independent third party before Google receives the data,\" the company has said.\n\nThe ombudsman was appointed to evaluate risks specific to consumer privacy, as US bankruptcy law provides for consumer protections in data sales. The ombudsman said her review did not include whether the sale posed any privacy risks to employees.\n\nLawyers previously told Business Insider that the proposed sale served as a reminder that, as an employee, [your work data](https://www.businessinsider.com/google-spirit-airlines-data-reminder-work-emails-arent-yours-2026-8) is generally not private and belongs to the company.\n\nWhile the ombudsman's recommendation helps the companies' case, approval of the data sale is ultimately up to the court. A hearing on the proposed sale is scheduled for October 14.\n\nThe filing on Monday also said that if other bids for the data are considered by the court — including those placed by AI [training](https://www.machinebrief.com/glossary/training) companies Mercor and Micro1 — additional review of consumer privacy concerns would be needed. The ombudsman specifically said she'd need more information about a \"supply chain security incident\" that happened [at Mercor](https://www.businessinsider.com/mercor-lawsuits-data-breach-2026-4) earlier this year.\n\n[Business Insider](https://www.businessinsider.com/google-bid-spirit-airlines-data-ai-boost-official-recommended-approval-2026-10)\n\nGet AI news in your inbox\n\nDaily digest of what matters in AI.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/google-just-got-a-boost-in-its-bid-to-buy-spirit-airlines-data-for-ai-training", "canonical_source": "https://www.machinebrief.com/news/google-just-got-a-boost-in-its-bid-to-buy-spirit-airlines-da-em9r", "published_at": "2026-10-05 22:01:04+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-10-05 23:46:46.636647+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-policy", "ai-ethics"], "entities": ["Google", "Spirit Airlines", "Lucy Thomson", "Tonic.ai", "Mercor", "Micro1", "American Airlines", "Business Insider"], "also_reported_by": [], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/google-just-got-a-boost-in-its-bid-to-buy-spirit-airlines-data-for-ai-training", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/google-just-got-a-boost-in-its-bid-to-buy-spirit-airlines-data-for-ai-training.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/google-just-got-a-boost-in-its-bid-to-buy-spirit-airlines-data-for-ai-training.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/google-just-got-a-boost-in-its-bid-to-buy-spirit-airlines-data-for-ai-training.jsonld"}}