Elon Musk seeks to buy data from bankrupt companies to secure training for 'Grok' - Sarmad
In its quest to secure cheaper training data for its “Grok” robot, SpaceX is considering purchasing customer data from struggling or bankrupt companies, according to Bloomberg.
This move comes after the company announced a massive $15.8 billion commitment to its artificial intelligence efforts, even though its AI division, xAI, ended the quarter with a net operating loss of $1.3 billion.
Elon Musk has ambitious plans for the Grok robot to catch up with competitors such as OpenAI and Anthropic. The company intends to unveil the Grok 5 model before the end of the year, a model that Musk claims will reach the level of artificial general intelligence (an AI system capable of performing any mental task a human can), which requires vast amounts of training data.
These discussions have not yet moved beyond the informal stage and may not lead to an agreement. However, if the deal is completed, it will have severe privacy implications, as any company that once provided you with services and is now facing financial difficulties could find itself selling your data to Musk.
SpaceX is not the only one seeking data. As AI agents proliferate in the workplace, AI labs are placing increasing importance on specialized knowledge across various sectors. As a result, a new niche market has emerged in which failing companies sell their employees’ data to AI labs.
In a bankruptcy auction last month, Google submitted a $10 million bid to acquire the data of the defunct Spirit Airlines to train its Gemini models. Although Spirit did not include passenger information, the data sold comprised 100 million company emails, 500 million Microsoft Teams conversations from former employees, flight operations data, employee productivity metrics, one million time-clock records, 17 million items on Microsoft OneDrive, and hundreds of thousands of employee records, including tax forms, employment contracts, and litigation files.
Google confirmed that the data would be stripped of personally identifiable information, but this was not sufficient for the Association of Flight Attendants union, which represents former Spirit employees. The union filed an objection with the New York bankruptcy court, arguing that the “de-identification” standards cover only consumers, leaving private employee data—including travel records and tax forms—vulnerable.
