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The collapse of startups is unveiling a new revenue stream as messy workplace data, from Slack messages to emails, is sold to AI developers , raising ethical and privacy issues in the process.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
A growing number of collapsed startups are discovering that the by-products of everyday work can be turned into a lucrative asset for the artificial intelligence industry. What once looked like administrative clutter, from Slack conversations and Jira tickets to email chains and cloud archives, is now being sold as training material for AI systems that need to learn how real businesses operate.<\/p>\n
Forbes reported that Shanna Johnson, who shut down the transcription company cielo24, was able to monetise more than a decade of internal records through SimpleClosure, a firm that manages company wind-downs. The material included years of workplace messaging, email correspondence and large stores of files documenting the company\u2019s operations. The sale reportedly brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars, suggesting that the digital remnants of a failed business can hold unexpected value.<\/p>\n
The interest is being driven by a wider shift in AI development. According to Forbes, model makers have already consumed much of the public web and are now seeking data that better reflects how people actually work inside organisations. Ali Ansari of micro1 told the publication that such data helps AI systems confront the messiness of real environments, while SimpleClosure chief executive Dori Yona described demand from AI labs as resembling a gold rush. The company is now preparing Asset Hub, a marketplace for code repositories, message archives and similar corporate records.<\/p>\n
The economics are striking. AfterDawn reported that payments for these data sets can range from $10,000 to $100,000 depending on the scale of the archive and the number of employees involved. SimpleClosure has reportedly completed nearly 100 deals in the past year and recovered more than $1 million for founders. But the trade-off is obvious: even when personal details are stripped out, workplace messages often contain information that can still identify people or reveal sensitive business behaviour.<\/p>\n
That is where the backlash is likely to sharpen. Marc Rotenberg of the Center for AI and Digital Policy told Forbes that selling internal communications to third parties raises substantial privacy concerns, especially because workers probably never expected their messages to be repurposed in this way. His organisation has urged US regulators to scrutinise emerging AI business practices, and the issue is likely to draw further attention as more companies look for ways to profit from the traces they leave behind when they shut their doors.<\/p>\n
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