--- title: The Download: dead startups fueling AI and interspecies... description: AI labs are buying up data from shut-down startups to train their models. Keelan Miskell turned his wound-down crypto startup's codebase and workspace data... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/the-download-dead-startups-fueling-ai-and-interspecies-communication-ramvkispd twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: The Download: dead startups fueling AI and interspecies communication | daily.dev og:description: AI labs are buying up data from shut-down startups to train their models. Keelan Miskell turned his wound-down crypto startup's codebase and workspace data... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/the-download-dead-startups-fueling-ai-and-interspecies-communication-ramvkispd og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/rAMVKispd.png og:image:alt: The Download: dead startups fueling AI and interspecies communication og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # The Download: dead startups fueling AI and interspecies communication **[MIT Technology Review](https://daily.dev/sources/technologyreview)** · 7 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary AI labs are buying up data from shut-down startups to train their models. Keelan Miskell turned his wound-down crypto startup's codebase and workspace data into tens of thousands of dollars by selling it. Demand has grown as training labs hit the limits of public and synthetic datasets and seek real-world records to help train AI agents. The newsletter also rounds up other stories, including hackers disrupting the US Federal Election Commission's website a week before the midterms, and Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince saying AI is currently finding software vulnerabilities quicker than they can be patched. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Why are AI companies buying data from startups that have shut down? AI training labs are running out of usable public and synthetic datasets, so they are turning to real-world records from defunct companies to train AI agents. One founder, Keelan Miskell, sold his failed crypto startup's codebase and workspace data for tens of thousands of dollars after winding the company down, illustrating a growing market connecting shut-down startups with AI labs seeking training data. _Developers tracking how AI models get trained can follow data-sourcing shifts like this on daily.dev._ ### Is AI making it harder to keep up with software vulnerabilities? Yes, according to Cloudflare chief executive Matthew Prince, who said AI is now finding software vulnerabilities faster than security teams can patch them. He predicted that for the next two years, there will be a critical, internet-wide vulnerability discovered on average every week, a pace driven by AI-assisted vulnerability research. _Security teams keeping pace with AI-driven vulnerability discovery can track these warnings on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [The Download: AI hiring biases, and weather data sabotage](https://daily.dev/posts/the-download-ai-hiring-biases-and-weather-data-sabotage-zrr9lmgbm) · MIT Technology Review · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [The New AI Problem Is a Lack of New Data](https://daily.dev/posts/the-new-ai-problem-is-a-lack-of-new-data-4uhgaxf7l) · Kilo Blog · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [AI models keep posting screenshots showing sensitive data from inside tech companies](https://daily.dev/posts/ai-models-keep-posting-screenshots-showing-sensitive-data-from-inside-tech-companies-oljhr927a) · The Register · 0 upvotes · 1 comments - [The Download: selling battlefield drone data and AI reshaping language](https://daily.dev/posts/the-download-selling-battlefield-drone-data-and-ai-reshaping-language-rc1jzt7dq) · MIT Technology Review · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [The old cybersecurity model is breaking](https://daily.dev/posts/the-old-cybersecurity-model-is-breaking-dtlyglbgy) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#ai](https://daily.dev/tags/ai), [#cyber](https://daily.dev/tags/cyber), [#startup](https://daily.dev/tags/startup) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/the-download-dead-startups-fueling-ai-and-interspecies-communication-ramvkispd) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"The Download: dead startups fueling AI and interspecies communication","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-download-dead-startups-fueling-ai-and-interspecies-communication-ramvkispd","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-download-dead-startups-fueling-ai-and-interspecies-communication-ramvkispd"},"datePublished":"2026-10-28T12:28:56.824Z","dateModified":"2026-10-28T14:59:20.632Z","description":"AI labs are buying up data from shut-down startups to train their models. Keelan Miskell turned his wound-down crypto startup's codebase and workspace data...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/359ae7b7f79d28aad43a0fded10e0b1f?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/359ae7b7f79d28aad43a0fded10e0b1f?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"MIT Technology Review","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"MIT Technology Review","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/a8d03889722f4f22b3986e0b395ff076","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/technologyreview"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-download-dead-startups-fueling-ai-and-interspecies-communication-ramvkispd","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"ai,cyber,startup","timeRequired":"PT7M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MIT Technology Review","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/technologyreview"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"The Download: dead startups fueling AI and interspecies communication"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-download-dead-startups-fueling-ai-and-interspecies-communication-ramvkispd#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Why are AI companies buying data from startups that have shut down?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"AI training labs are running out of usable public and synthetic datasets, so they are turning to real-world records from defunct companies to train AI agents. One founder, Keelan Miskell, sold his failed crypto startup's codebase and workspace data for tens of thousands of dollars after winding the company down, illustrating a growing market connecting shut-down startups with AI labs seeking training data. Developers tracking how AI models get trained can follow data-sourcing shifts like this on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Is AI making it harder to keep up with software vulnerabilities?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Yes, according to Cloudflare chief executive Matthew Prince, who said AI is now finding software vulnerabilities faster than security teams can patch them. He predicted that for the next two years, there will be a critical, internet-wide vulnerability discovered on average every week, a pace driven by AI-assisted vulnerability research. Security teams keeping pace with AI-driven vulnerability discovery can track these warnings on daily.dev."}}]} ```