HR edition
AI companies are offering hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars for internal company data, such as emails, chat messages and documents.
AI companies want to buy your employer's emails and files
AI companies are buying internal company data: documents, emails, chat messages and transcripts of conversations. Journalist Steven Levy received offers in his own inbox. One offer named $350,000 to $1.8 million, paid in one go. Another company went up to $2 million.
Handshake, Micro1 and Mercor buy the data. They say they work with almost all the big AI labs.
The buyers are relaxed about privacy. Mercor says it removes personal data from the data and that this can be checked. A privacy lawyer at EPIC says it is unclear whether that solves all privacy problems.
The bankrupt Spirit Airlines shows that it is not simple. There, the data included 80,000 email accounts, 500 million internal messages and 20.6 million SharePoint files. The sale is now on hold. The flight attendants' union says it included their private data.
For your work, this means that emails, personnel records and internal files can be worth money, even if a company shuts down or is taken over. If you help decide about data in finance, there is a new question to ask: what happens to our files if the company shuts down or is sold?
Background for subscribersAt the bankrupt Spirit Airlines, data with 500 million internal messages was for sale, and according to the union it contained private information about flight attendants. The sale is now on hold. For HR, this shows that emails and employee records can be worth money. So a new question in your work is: what happens to those files if the company shuts down or is sold?
More time for high-risk AI: map now where AI helps decide things about people
The strictest AI rules only start on 2 December 2027. This gives organizations time to prepare. A practical first step is an overview of all the places where AI helps decide things about people. Think of HR, education and credit. For each use, write down which tool it is, who uses it and which decision depends on it. This way you can quickly see later where extra rules apply. Smaller organizations are not on their own. The European Commission and the member states must give practical support to small and medium-sized businesses.
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