# Guides to selling and buying AI training data

URL: https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides

- [How to sell your company's data to AI companies](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/how-to-sell-data-to-ai-companies): You sell company data to AI companies by licensing a fixed, rights-cleared export of your records to a buyer such as micro1, Mercor or a direct lab. Inventory what you hold, exclude what you cannot license, de-identify personal data, share a representative sample under NDA, compare offers on the same terms, then sign a license with acceptance tests and a payment schedule.
- [How much is your data worth to AI companies?](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/how-much-is-your-data-worth-to-ai): Company data is worth between $10,000 and $4 million to AI companies on buyers' published terms, and most published ranges sit between $100,000 and $2 million. Closed sales are often lower: AIData.Broker puts the median public sale at $31,600 against a median published offer of $280,000. Years of linked records, clean rights and exclusivity push the price up.
- [What data do AI companies buy?](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/what-data-do-ai-companies-buy): AI companies buy private records that show how real work gets done: workplace email and chat, support tickets, standard operating procedures, CRM records, source code with its change history, completed project files and agent trajectories. They rarely buy public data, contact lists or scraped material. Years of history, linked context and settled rights make records worth more.
- [AI data licensing explained: license, sale or revenue share](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/ai-data-licensing-explained): AI data licensing means granting an AI company the right to use a copy of your data for agreed purposes, such as training or evaluation, while you keep ownership. Most deals are one-off license fees, exclusive or not. Some pay a revenue share each time data is resold. Outright sales of the data itself are rare outside bankruptcy and closures.
- [AI data licensing agreement checklist](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/ai-data-licensing-agreement-checklist): An AI data licensing agreement should define exactly which records are licensed, what the buyer may do with them and with anything trained on them, how personal data is de-identified and certified, when you are paid, when raw copies are deleted, and how far your liability goes. Use this checklist with your own lawyer before you sign any license.
- [Exclusive vs non-exclusive data licenses](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/exclusive-vs-non-exclusive-data-licenses): An exclusive data license lets only one buyer use your data for the agreed scope and term, while a non-exclusive license lets you license the same data again. Exclusive deals pay more upfront, about 2.5 to 5 times a non-exclusive one according to AIData.Broker, but repeat non-exclusive licenses can earn as much. Field-of-use and time-limited terms sit in between.
- [Can you legally sell company data for AI training?](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/can-you-legally-sell-company-data-for-ai): You can legally sell or license company data for AI training in the US if your company owns the records, no contract or professional rule forbids the use, and privacy law allows any personal data to be disclosed or it is removed. The FTC Act, the CCPA and sector laws such as HIPAA and GLBA set the limits. Most companies can license some of their records, rarely all of them.
- [CCPA, state privacy laws and GDPR when selling data for AI](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/gdpr-and-selling-data-for-ai-training): The CCPA treats a transfer of personal information to an AI buyer for money or other value as a sale, unless the data meets California's three-part de-identification standard. More than 20 other states now have comprehensive privacy laws, HIPAA covers health data and the FTC polices privacy promises. UK and EU GDPR apply to people there. Most sellers de-identify or exclude personal data before licensing.
- [De-identification for AI training data](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/de-identification-for-ai-training-data): De-identification for AI training data means removing or transforming everything in your records that identifies a person, directly or indirectly, before a buyer sees them. Removing names is not enough. HIPAA's Safe Harbor method strips 18 types of identifier, and the CCPA adds a public commitment not to re-identify. You need exclusions, a documented method, a random review sample and a re-identification test.
- [How to build a data manifest buyers will trust](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/how-to-build-a-data-manifest): A data manifest is the structured inventory a buyer reads before deciding whether your data is worth a sample or an offer. It lists sources, date ranges, record counts, formats, languages, exclusions, de-identification method, rights per source and file hashes. Buyers trust a manifest when it is tied to one exact version of the data and every count can be checked on delivery.
- [Selling data from a closed or closing company](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/selling-data-from-a-closed-company): You can sell data from a closed company if someone with legal authority still controls its property: the board during a wind-down, or a bankruptcy trustee or debtor in possession with court approval. Buyers typically pay $10,000 to $100,000 per small company, according to SimpleClosure. Delaware law keeps a dissolved corporation alive for three years to wind up, so plan the license within that window.
- [How to sell source code to AI companies](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/sell-source-code-to-ai-companies): You can sell source code to AI companies through code marketplaces, closure brokers, training-data companies and direct programs. Buyers pay most for private, human-written production code with full engineering history, and DataVendor says systems languages such as Rust, Go, C and C++ attract more. First confirm you own every line, strip secrets and customer data, and remove third-party code.
- [How to license video and audio archives for AI training](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/sell-video-and-audio-for-ai-training): You can license video and audio archives for AI training if you hold every rights layer in the recordings: the master, the music, the performances and the people on screen or on mic. Bloomberg reported in January 2025 that AI companies were paying $1 to $4 per minute of unused video. Clear rights, original masters and searchable metadata decide what an archive earns.
- [Is selling company data to AI safe? The real risks](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/is-selling-company-data-to-ai-safe): Selling company data to AI can be done safely, but it is never risk-free, and the decision cannot be undone once a model is trained. The real risks are breaching privacy law or client contracts, licensing content you do not own, people being re-identified, a buyer misusing the data and a public backlash. Exclusions, de-identification, buyer vetting and tight license terms reduce most of them.
- [Telling staff and clients about a data license](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/telling-staff-and-clients-about-a-data-sale): Tell staff and clients about a data license before the data leaves the company, not after. FTC staff warn that quiet, retroactive privacy policy changes may be deceptive, and the CCPA requires notice before personal information is used for incompatible new purposes. Settle what is included and excluded first, then tell each group in a planned order so nobody learns about the deal from the press.
- [AI data marketplaces, brokers and direct deals compared](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/ai-data-marketplaces-compared): AI data marketplaces, brokers and direct deals differ mainly in who sets the price, who prepares the data and who decides where it goes. Marketplaces such as Opendatabay and Datarade let you list and price a dataset for a published commission. Direct buyers such as Polyshares pay a fixed sum with no fee. Brokers and licensing agents sit between, and most are paid only when a deal completes.
- [How to buy AI training data](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/how-to-buy-ai-training-data): To buy AI training data safely, define the exact training use first, then source from sellers who can prove they hold the rights, test a randomly drawn sample in your own pipeline and sign a license covering training, derived assets and deletion. Rights evidence matters more than volume, because data cannot practically be removed from a model once it has been trained on.
- [AI training data due diligence checklist](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/ai-training-data-due-diligence-checklist): AI training data due diligence means confirming, before you pay or train, that the seller can sign, owns the data, faces no contract or privacy restrictions, has cleared third-party content, has de-identified personal data by a documented method and will deliver what the manifest promises. Ask for documents rather than assurances, and stage access so a sample always comes first.
- [Data provenance explained for AI teams](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/data-provenance-explained): Data provenance is the documented history of a dataset: where each part came from, who created and collected it, under what rights and how it was changed before it reached you. For AI teams it is the evidence that a dataset can lawfully be used for training, and the EU AI Act now requires model providers to document the provenance of their training data.
- [How to evaluate a dataset sample before you buy](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/how-to-evaluate-dataset-samples): To evaluate a dataset sample, first confirm it was drawn at random across the whole dataset and labeled with its sampling method, then test it in your own pipeline: schema against the manifest, duplicates, label accuracy, residual personal data, third-party content and fitness for your task. Agree in advance which results would stop the deal or change the price.
- [AI training data pricing models](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/ai-training-data-pricing-models): AI training data is priced in five main ways: a flat license fee, a price per unit such as per minute of video or per task, a recurring subscription, a revenue share or staged milestone payments. Exclusivity is the biggest multiplier, with AIData.Broker putting exclusive deals at about 2.5 to 5 times non-exclusive ones. Rights clarity and uniqueness drive the rest.
- [The EU AI Act and training data transparency](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/eu-ai-act-training-data-transparency): Article 53(1)(d) of the EU AI Act requires every provider of a general-purpose AI model to publish a sufficiently detailed summary of its training content, using the template the Commission published on July 24, 2025. The duty has applied since August 2, 2025, Commission fines of up to 3% of worldwide turnover apply from August 2, 2026, and older models have until August 2, 2027.
- [Agent trajectories and RL environments explained](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/agent-trajectories-and-rl-environments): An agent trajectory is the step-by-step record of an AI agent or a person completing a task in software: each observation, click, tool call and result. An RL environment is the replayable sandbox where those tasks run and are scored. AI labs buy both to train agents with reinforcement learning, and they value realistic tasks whose outcomes can be checked automatically.
- [How to sell Slack and Teams chat data for AI training](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/sell-slack-data-for-ai-training): You can license Slack and Microsoft Teams archives to AI companies, and Mercor, Polyshares, SellMyData and SimpleClosure AssetHub all name chat data among what they take. Public prices are few: MIT Technology Review reported about $15,000 pending for one closed startup's workspace data, while Google bid $10 million for Spirit Airlines' archive. Check employee, client and NDA rights before you export anything.
- [How to sell email archives for AI training](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/sell-email-archives-for-ai-training): You can license company email archives to AI companies, and Mercor, Polyshares, SellMyData and Troveo all list email among the systems they take. The best-known price is Google's $10 million winning bid for Spirit Airlines' de-identified business data, which included corporate email. Value comes from long threads with outcomes, and the main risks are outside senders' data, legal privilege and client NDAs.
- [How to sell customer support tickets for AI training](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/sell-support-tickets-for-ai-training): You can license resolved customer support tickets to AI companies, and micro1, Polyshares, SellMyData and Labelbox Prism all name support data among what they buy. micro1's published payouts for qualifying companies start at $100,000 to $500,000 across operational records, but no buyer prices tickets on their own. Value sits in resolved threads with outcomes, and customer personal data in free text is the main risk.
- [How to sell CRM data for AI training](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/sell-crm-data-for-ai-training): You can license CRM histories to AI companies, and micro1, Polyshares, SellMyData, Mercor and Labelbox Prism all name CRM or Salesforce data among what they buy. Buyers want activity timelines with won and lost outcomes, not contact lists. micro1's published payouts start at $100,000 to $500,000 across operational records. Contact data under the CCPA and customer pricing under NDA are the main risks.
- [How to sell Jira and issue tracker history for AI training](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/sell-jira-and-issue-history-for-ai-training): You can license Jira and other issue tracker history to AI companies, usually alongside the code it describes. Labelbox Prism and SellMyData name Jira data, and Mercor's published listing puts software companies at $50,000 to $500,000. Tickets linked to commits, reviews and outcomes are what buyers pay for. Strip customer data, secrets and client project tickets before you export anything.
- [How to sell meeting recordings and transcripts for AI training](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/sell-meeting-recordings-for-ai-training): You can license meeting recordings and transcripts to AI companies only where each recording was lawful and your notices allow the reuse. Polyshares lists call recordings, and Labelbox Prism requires explicit, timestamped consent for likeness and voice data. No buyer publishes a price for meeting recordings. Transcripts are easier to clear than audio or video, and all-party consent states such as California set the bar.
- [How to sell sales call recordings for AI training](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/sell-sales-calls-for-ai-training): You can license sales call recordings to AI companies where every call was lawfully recorded and your notices allow the reuse. Polyshares lists call recordings, and Mercor's published listing puts recorded customer conversations at $20,000 to $250,000 per call center. Calls linked to CRM outcomes are worth most. Prospects in all-party consent states, card details and voiceprints are the main legal risks.
- [How to sell company documents and shared drive files for AI training](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/sell-documents-and-drive-files-for-ai-training): You can license company documents and shared drive files to AI companies, and Polyshares, SimpleClosure AssetHub, SellMyData, micro1 and Handshake AI all name documents, SOPs or Drive files among what they buy. micro1's published payouts start at $100,000 for qualifying companies. Value sits in drafts, SOPs and decision records. Check copyright in contractor and third-party documents and clear client confidentiality first.
- [How to sell CAD and design files for AI training](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/sell-cad-and-design-files-for-ai-training): You can license CAD models, drawings and design files to AI companies where you own the copyright and no export control or customer NDA applies. Handshake AI, Polyshares and SimpleClosure AssetHub name design files, and Mercor's published listings run from $20,000 to $1.5 million per company across design, construction and manufacturing. Native files with revision history and linked specifications are worth most.
- [How to sell photo and image libraries for AI training](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/sell-photo-and-image-libraries-for-ai-training): You can license a photo or image library to AI companies where you hold the copyright in each image and releases for identifiable people. Shutterstock's chief executive told Bloomberg its AI licensing business produced $104 million in revenue in 2023, but no buyer publishes a per-image rate. Original files with captions and rights records are worth most. Commissioned photos, stock images and faces need checking first.
- [How to sell financial and accounting records for AI training](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/sell-financial-records-for-ai-training): You can license your own financial and accounting records to AI companies, and Polyshares, SellMyData, Grepped and Labelbox Prism all name accounting, ERP or QuickBooks data or financial modeling among what they buy. No buyer prices a ledger on its own. Keep the originals for IRS retention periods, remove payroll and bank details, and if you are a CPA firm, client records need specific consent.
- [How to license books and publishing archives to AI companies](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/sell-books-and-publishing-archives-to-ai-companies): You can license books and publishing archives to AI companies where your author contracts give you the rights. Publishers Weekly reported HarperCollins' deal at $5,000 per title, split equally between author and publisher, and The Bookseller reported Wiley expecting $44 million from AI rights deals. Mercor lists publishers at $35,000 to $370,000. Author contracts, not ownership of the files, decide what you can license.
- [How to run an AI training data procurement](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/ai-training-data-procurement): An AI training data procurement runs in six gated stages: requirements, a brief or RFP, a scored shortlist, rights and quality due diligence, a contract with acceptance terms, and acceptance testing at delivery. Each stage needs a named owner and a written pass condition, because rights failures found after training are far more expensive to fix than failures found before signing.
- [How to write a training data request sellers can answer](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/how-to-write-a-training-data-request): A training data request sellers can answer states the training use and then fixes ten fields: domain, volume, time range, formats, languages, rights needed, exclusivity, de-identification standard, delivery method and budget model. Give a range or a firm rule for each field. Sellers quote quickly against specific fields and slowly, or not at all, against open questions.
- [How to design a training data pilot before a full license](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/training-data-pilot-design): A training data pilot tests a limited slice of a dataset on an agreed experiment before you sign the full license. Design it with two samples, a quality audit of a few hundred random records and a training slice, a held-out evaluation the seller never sees, written acceptance criteria and staged payment, so the full license is only signed once the data has proved itself.
- [Sourcing expert and human-generated data: vendors, costs and quality](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/sourcing-expert-and-human-data): Expert and human-generated data is commissioned work, such as demonstrations, preference comparisons and red-team attacks, bought from vendors including Scale AI, Surge AI, Mercor, Turing, micro1, Invisible and Handshake AI. None of them publishes a buyer rate card, so price is set per hour, task or project. Quality depends on rater screening, calibration and overlap checks you can audit.
- [Buying evaluation datasets: what makes a good AI eval set](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/evaluation-datasets-for-ai): A good AI evaluation set is private, expert-checked and uncontaminated: its tasks have never appeared in any model's training data, each answer has been verified by a second expert and the set is refreshed or retired before it leaks. Buy it with exclusivity, a ban on reuse by the seller and a remedy if tasks surface in public, because a leaked eval set measures memory, not ability.
- [Synthetic data vs licensed real data for AI training](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/synthetic-vs-licensed-training-data): Synthetic data works best as a supplement to real data, not a replacement. Shumailov and colleagues reported in Nature in 2024 that training indiscriminately on model-generated data makes the tails of the original distribution disappear, while Gerstgrasser and colleagues found that accumulating synthetic data alongside the original real data avoided collapse. Licensed real data anchors the mix and covers domains no generator knows.
- [How big is the AI training data market?](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/ai-training-data-market-size): Published estimates put the AI training dataset market at $3.2 billion to $8.74 billion for 2025, depending on the research firm: Grand View Research estimates $3.2 billion and Mordor Intelligence $8.74 billion. Forecasts run from $9.58 billion by 2029 to $49.82 billion by 2031. The figures differ because firms define the market, base year and method differently.