MIT Technology Review is reporting that a growing industry of businesses catering to dying startups is now selling the digital remains of those companies to artificial intelligence labs. It said the practice has moved from rare and "somewhat taboo" to increasingly routine as AI training labs hit the limits of public and synthetic datasets.

The outlet reported that Keelan Miskell, who wound down his crypto startup this year, netted roughly $25,000 for his code base and a still-pending amount, likely around $15,000, for workspace data stored in Google, Notion, Figma, and Slack. The sale was brokered by SimpleClosure, which added data sales to its services in April through a platform called Asset Hub. MIT Technology Review said Asset Hub has handled over 150 deals and expects to return more than $10 million to startups by the end of 2026. SimpleClosure CEO Dori Yona said 47% of the company's deals now include code or data sales. Rival firm Sunset also has a rapidly growing data resale business.

It said demand emerged suddenly last year as AI labs sought real-world archives. Surge AI buys data to build "reinforcement-learning gyms" where AI agents practice tasks. Nick Heiner, who leads that work, said one company's Slack history can be worth more than another's Slack, email, and calendars combined if it captures conversations with variety and depth. MIT Technology Review noted that no company has released tests comparing real-world data training with alternatives, and pricing remains uncertain.

The outlet reported that Google outbid the AI data company Mercor in August to buy Spirit Airlines' data during its bankruptcy, including 100 million emails, 500 million Teams messages, and 176,000 employee records, for $10 million. It said Bloomberg reported in September that SpaceX's AI unit is weighing buying data from struggling startups.

MIT Technology Review said the sales raise legal and ethical questions. Spirit's flight attendants' union objected on privacy grounds, and attorney Greg Ewing called such data "legally radioactive." Law professor Ifeoma Ajunwa said employers should have express consent before selling workers' data, adding that no federal law bans such sales. The outlet said proceeds typically flow to senior creditors and investors rather than employees.

Full Article: AI labs are buying data from dead startups to train their models