Google has won a $10 million bid to purchase 34 years of data from Spirit Airlines, which includes employee records, operational files, and other business information. The data does not include customer data, and Google will not receive any personal information from the dataset, according to a spokesperson. The winning offer, which beat a $7.5 million bid from Mercor, must still be approved by a judge. The sale has sparked legal challenges from former flight attendants, who argue the data contains sensitive employee information that should not be sold for AI training purposes. Source: wired
The court filing describes the data sale as including more than 1 million time-card records, over 175,000 employee records, and nearly 150,000 employee tax forms, among other sensitive files. Google would select or approve a third party to remove elements that could link the data to specific individuals. A hearing related to the data sale has been delayed to September 9. Former Spirit Airlines flight attendants have raised concerns about the potential sale of their private data, including medical and personal information shared during employment. They argue that deidentifying employee data does not equate to confidentiality, as AI can easily relink private information across datasets. Source: wired
The legal objection from the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) highlights the gap between data protections for consumers and workers. The union argues that employee data should receive the same protections as consumer information. Legal experts say this case marks the first public conflict between labor unions and corporations over the use of employee data for AI training. The outcome could influence how labor unions and companies approach employee data in the future, as the value of worker data continues to rise in the AI industry. Source: wired
