More than 120 US lawmakers have raised concerns over Alphabet’s Google unit acquiring internal data from bankrupt Spirit Airlines for $10 million, warning that the transaction could expose vast amounts of employee information to artificial intelligence systems and raise broader questions about workplace privacy in the AI era.
The lawmakers, led by Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Steven Horsford, urged Google to exclude employee information from the transaction to the greatest extent possible. Their intervention adds political pressure to a proposed sale involving millions of internal communications and other business records from the defunct airline, which ceased operations in May.
Google won an auction in August for Spirit’s internal data as part of the airline’s closure and asset liquidation. The material includes spreadsheets, calendars and records relating to marketing, productivity and operations. According to the lawmakers, the proposed transaction would encompass approximately 100 million emails, 500 million Microsoft Teams messages and other employee records.
Register for the next Tekedia Mini-MBA.
Register for Tekedia AI in Business Masterclass.
Join Tekedia Capital Syndicate and co-invest in great global startups.
The dispute centers on whether sensitive workplace information accumulated during ordinary business operations should become an asset that can be sold to an AI developer when an employer collapses. Although Google has said it does not intend to acquire personal information, lawmakers and union representatives are concerned about the potential exposure of employees whose records were created for business purposes rather than AI training.
“Innovation should not come at the expense of workers’ privacy or the confidentiality of information they were required to provide as a condition of employment,” the lawmakers said.
“The unprecedented scale and sophistication of modern artificial intelligence make it particularly important that privacy protections keep pace with the technology.”
The transaction is scheduled to face scrutiny at an October 14 bankruptcy court hearing, where a judge is expected to consider the proposed sale following recommendations from a court-appointed privacy ombudsman.
The privacy concerns have emerged even after a review of the proposed transaction recommended excluding passenger personal information belonging to 97 million Spirit customers.
On Monday, the privacy ombudsman recommended that the bankruptcy judge approve the deal after passenger information was removed from the proposed transfer. The recommendation addresses one major category of sensitive data, but the lawmakers’ intervention highlights a separate challenge involving employee records and internal communications.
Corporate datasets can contain information that extends well beyond names and contact details. Emails, workplace messaging histories, calendars, and operational documents may include personal correspondence, employment-related discussions, and other sensitive details generated during routine work. Even when a dataset is stripped of obvious identifiers, the remaining information may require careful assessment before it can be used for AI development.
Google said it did not want to acquire personal information from Spirit and indicated that the data would either be excluded or anonymized before being transferred.
“We are not looking to buy any personal information from Spirit. The information will either be completely excluded or will be de-identified by an independent third party before Google receives any data. We’re already working constructively with the appointed privacy ombudsman,” a Google spokesperson said.
The company’s position suggests that the proposed transaction will depend partly on how the data is screened and prepared before delivery. However, the lawmakers’ request to exclude employee information to the greatest extent possible raises a broader question about whether de-identification alone would address their concerns.
Removing personal identifiers can reduce privacy risks, but the effectiveness of that process depends on the information retained, the possibility of re-identification, and the intended uses of the resulting dataset. Internal communications may also contain confidential business information that is not necessarily personal data but could still warrant protection.
The available details do not establish precisely how Google intends to use each category of Spirit’s records or how much employee information would ultimately be transferred. Those questions are likely to remain central to the scrutiny surrounding the transaction.
The case also illustrates a growing complication in corporate bankruptcies involving AI companies. As datasets become valuable inputs for developing AI systems, records originally collected to manage employees, customers and business operations can acquire a potential resale value beyond their initial purpose.
For bankrupt companies, selling those assets may help generate funds for creditors. For workers and customers, however, the prospect of their information changing hands raises questions about consent, confidentiality and the limits of commercial data ownership.
Union Leaders Warn of Wider Implications for Workers
Labor representatives have also expressed concern about the proposed sale, arguing that its consequences could extend beyond Spirit’s former workforce.
Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, said: “The outcome of conditions on this proposed sale to Google carries tremendous implications for workers across the economy.”
Her warning points to a broader issue confronting employees as AI developers seek access to large volumes of real-world information. Workplace data can offer detailed examples of how organizations communicate, coordinate tasks, and manage operations. Yet employees may have supplied that information under the expectation that it would remain within the context of their employment.
If corporate records can be transferred to AI developers through bankruptcy proceedings, workers may have limited influence over how information associated with their former jobs is handled after an employer shuts down. The Spirit case therefore raises questions about existing privacy rules and bankruptcy procedures, if they adequately account for the commercial value of employee data in AI development.
The auction also attracted a competing bid. Mercor, an AI data company, offered $7.5 million for Spirit’s employee data, underscoring the commercial interest in workplace information. The available information does not establish the precise scope of Mercor’s proposal relative to Google’s bid or whether the two offers cover identical datasets.
Google’s $10 million offer is part of a wider liquidation process following Spirit’s shutdown, which has also involved the sale of valuable aviation assets. This week, the Federal Aviation Administration approved the $58.5 million sale of Spirit’s slots at New York’s LaGuardia Airport to JetBlue Airways.
The airport-slot transaction shows the range of assets being sold as the airline winds down its operations. But unlike airport access rights and other conventional commercial assets, internal employee communications raise questions about privacy and the purposes for which information may subsequently be used.
The October 14 hearing will be an important step in determining whether the Google transaction proceeds under the proposed safeguards. The lawmakers’ intervention does not itself prevent the sale, and the court’s eventual decision will determine the conditions under which the transaction can move forward.