Spirit Flight Attendants Accuse Google of Accessing Their Confidential Data to Train AI

The flight attendants' union at Spirit Airlines called for an investigation after accusing Google of entering into a secret agreement that grants it access to workers' personal and professional data to use in training artificial intelligence models, as part of an acquisition deal that took place without the employees' knowledge or consent.

The union described this move as "adding insult to injury," referring to the fact that employees were already suffering from job uncertainty due to the crisis the company is undergoing, only to discover on top of that that their confidential data has been turned into fuel to train AI systems for an outside company.

This case highlights a critical legislative gap in the laws governing acquisition deals, as current legislation does not require companies to disclose to employees how their data is used within these deals, opening the door to similar practices in other sectors.

This case represents a true test of the limits of what tech companies can access, as it has become clear that data is no longer just a file in a company cabinet, but a commercial commodity bought and sold in acquisition deals, in the total absence of any real protection for the original data owner—the worker.

What do these terms mean?

Acquisition Deal: The process of one company purchasing another company or part of its assets, which may include databases and information related to employees and customers.

Training Data: The information fed to artificial intelligence models to learn patterns and improve their performance; the more detailed the data, the more accurate the model.

Informed Consent: A legal principle that obligates entities to obtain explicit permission from individuals before collecting or using their data, while clearly informing them how this data will be used.