Companies Are Selling Slack Archives to AI Data Brokers

Micro1 is among the largest players in the market. CEO Ali Ansari said about 200 businesses sign up each day to explore selling their data. Payments range from a couple hundred thousand dollars to a few million, he said. Even companies that have shut down are finding buyers: Spirit Airlines reportedly sold operational data for around $10 million after closing.

The opportunity is not open to every business. Smaller companies often lack the data volume brokers require. Privacy is another concern. Brokers remove names and other identifying details, but Ansari acknowledged that anonymization is not foolproof. He expects data licensing to become a standard revenue stream for businesses, as common as advertising.