AI Labs Are Driving a New Market for Workplace Slack DMs and Emails

AI labs are seeking internal workplace data because it can show how white-collar work actually happens: conversations, decisions, documents, and workflows. Business Insider reports that emails, Slack DMs, PowerPoints, Google Docs, and similar records are increasingly being packaged as training data for AI systems and business-focused agents.

The demand is tied to companies racing to automate office tasks. The report cites Gartner’s estimate that annual spending on data for AI could rise from less than $1 billion last year to almost $6.5 billion in 2027.

Business owners are receiving six-figure “exploding offers” that can expire in 48 hours, according to the report. Data can be priced by the terabyte, anonymized, and sold through brokers to AI developers.

The market now includes active companies, not just failed startups. Micro1, an AI training startup cited in the article, announced a program that pays midsize companies $100,000 to $2 million for access to anonymized data.

The report says buyers value “long-horizon” data that gives a full picture of how work gets done. Slack, email, customer relationship management records, design files, onboarding checklists, and similar materials can be more useful together than as isolated documents.

Volume matters, and companies with more white-collar employees may have more valuable data sets. Exclusivity also matters, while fields AI companies are trying hardest to automate, including law and accounting, are described as especially in demand.

The biggest concern is that employees may not know their workplace messages and files are being sold, and may not share in the proceeds. Business Insider quotes Emory University law professor Ifeoma Ajunwa calling the consent question an “ethically gray area,” especially given the lack of broad federal privacy rules.

The report also points to cybersecurity risks, including an alleged attempt to sell a stolen corporate codebase for millions of dollars. Other examples include concerns over Google’s bid for Spirit Airlines data, a lawsuit involving Mercor that the company has denied in court, and Meta suspending an internal AI data project after employee concerns and an internal leak.

Workplace data is becoming a business asset, but the rules around consent, ownership, anonymization, and employee privacy remain contested. Companies considering data deals need to weigh potential revenue against trust, legal exposure, and cybersecurity risk.

For employees, the report underscores a broader shift: routine digital work can now carry significant value beyond its original purpose. That could increase pressure for stronger data-protection policies and give workers new leverage as their everyday digital records become more commercially important.