{"slug": "google-s-10-million-plan-to-buy-spirit-s-data-and-use-it-to-train-ai-cleared-one", "title": "Google's $10 million plan to buy Spirit's data and use it to train AI cleared one of its last big hurdles", "summary": "Google's $10 million bid to buy Spirit Airlines' internal data for AI training cleared a key hurdle after the Association of Flight Attendants and other unions withdrew their objections on Monday night, following a deal to protect former Spirit employees' personal data. The trove includes 500 million Microsoft Teams chats, 100 million emails and other internal documents; the sale had been held up in bankruptcy court over privacy concerns, and last month 121 members of Congress led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren raised objections. The agreement excludes employee medical and disability history, drug or alcohol testing records and payroll records, requires a more rigorous de-identification process than previously planned, and bars Google from attempting to reidentify the data, after a court-appointed privacy ombudsman recommended approval once personal information on 97 million Spirit customers was excluded.", "body_md": "# Google's $10 million plan to buy Spirit's data and use it to train AI cleared one of its last big hurdles\n\n[Business Insider](https://www.businessinsider.com)\n\nAfter Spirit Airlines shut down in May, Google won the bid to pay $10 million for a trove of internal data, but privacy concerns have held it up.\n\n- After Spirit Airlines shut down, Google won the bid to pay $10 million for a vast data trove.\n- The sale has been held up in bankruptcy court over privacy concerns.\n- But unions reached a deal with Google and withdrew their objections, clearing the way for the sale.\n\nGoogle's plan to acquire a vast trove of [data from Spirit Airlines](https://www.businessinsider.com/google-bid-spirit-airlines-data-ai-boost-official-recommended-approval-2026-10) to train its AI models is one step closer after it cleared a key privacy hurdle.\n\nThe Association of Flight Attendants said Tuesday that alongside other unions it had reached a deal to protect the personal data of former Spirit staff. It called the agreement \"an historic win for worker privacy protections.\"\n\nAfter Spirit shut down in May, its assets were put up for auction. [Google won the bid](https://www.businessinsider.com/google-buys-spirit-airlines-data-ai-model-development-2026-8) to pay $10 million for data including 500 million Microsoft Teams chats, 100 million emails, and other internal documents. Google has said the data would help improve its products and AI models.\n\nBut the sale has been held up in bankruptcy court over privacy concerns, particularly regarding details of staff and customers held by Spirit.\n\nLast month, 121 members of Congress, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, raised concerns about the deal. A court-appointed privacy ombudsman recommended the deal be approved after personal information about 97 million Spirit customers was excluded.\n\nAviation unions and public-interest groups withdrew their objections to the sale on Monday night after reaching a deal with Google about Spirit employees' data.\n\nThey agreed on excluding data covering employees' medical and disability history, drug or alcohol testing records, payroll records, and more, the AFA said.\n\nThe union also said it had won a more rigorous de-identification process than previously planned, and Google is prohibited from attempting to reidentify the data.\n\n\"[Worker data privacy](https://www.businessinsider.com/google-spirit-airlines-data-reminder-work-emails-arent-yours-2026-8) in the age of AI has become a whole new worker's rights issue,\" said Sara Nelson, international president of the AFA-CWA.\n\n\"Without our union, there would have been no one to speak for workers in this fire sale of their private information. We fought and we won brand new protections,\" she added.\n\n\"Now we will take this issue to all of our employers to secure contractual protections, and demand lawmakers protect workers everywhere through federal and state law.\"\n\nGoogle did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\n\nLast month, the company said it was \"not looking to buy any personal information from Spirit,\" Reuters reported.\n\n\"The information will either be completely excluded or will be de-identified by an independent third party before Google receives any data,\" it added.\n\n[Business Insider](https://www.businessinsider.com/google-spirit-airlines-data-privacy-union-deal-2026-11)\n\nGet AI news in your inbox\n\nDaily digest of what matters in AI.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/google-s-10-million-plan-to-buy-spirit-s-data-and-use-it-to-train-ai-cleared-one", "canonical_source": "https://www.machinebrief.com/news/googles-dollar10-million-plan-to-buy-spirits-data-and-use-it-pma5", "published_at": "2026-11-11 11:54:36+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-11-11 13:19:45.300960+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-policy", "ai-ethics"], "entities": ["Google", "Spirit Airlines", "Association of Flight Attendants", "Sara Nelson", "Elizabeth Warren", "Congress", "Microsoft Teams"], "also_reported_by": [], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/google-s-10-million-plan-to-buy-spirit-s-data-and-use-it-to-train-ai-cleared-one", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/google-s-10-million-plan-to-buy-spirit-s-data-and-use-it-to-train-ai-cleared-one.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/google-s-10-million-plan-to-buy-spirit-s-data-and-use-it-to-train-ai-cleared-one.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/google-s-10-million-plan-to-buy-spirit-s-data-and-use-it-to-train-ai-cleared-one.jsonld"}}