SpaceX's AI division, SpaceXAI, has held informal internal discussions regarding the acquisition of customer and operational data from defunct startups. The company intends to utilize this information to train its Grok artificial intelligence model. The strategy focuses on purchasing the digital assets of bankrupt firms rather than licensing data from active businesses.
The initiative aims to secure high-quality training data, as business records are considered more valuable than standard web-scraped content. This approach mirrors a recent bankruptcy auction where Google acquired internal records from Spirit Airlines for $10 million. That transaction included approximately 100 million emails and 500 million Microsoft Teams messages.
In August, Elon Musk informed SpaceX employees that the company would also train Grok on its own internal records. Musk stated that the model would incorporate the perspectives and work of staff members. SpaceXAI was formed in February following the merger of SpaceX and xAI. The company released Grok 4.5 in July and is preparing for future model updates.
The practice of selling customer databases during bankruptcy proceedings treats data as a liquid asset similar to office equipment. This process often occurs without customer consent, as the original entity no longer exists to address concerns. Legal challenges regarding data privacy and de-identification remain an ongoing issue in bankruptcy court proceedings.
