The genetic testing company 23andMe, which holds the genetic data of 15 million people, declared bankruptcy on Sunday night after years of financial struggles. This means that all of the extremely personal user data could be up for sale—and that vast trove of genetic data could draw interest from AI companies looking to train their data sets, experts say.

“Data is the new oil—and this is very high quality oil,” says Subodha Kumar, a professor at the Fox School of Business at Temple University. “With the development of more and more complicated and rigorous algorithms, this is a gold mine for many companies.”

But any AI-related company attempting to acquire 23andMe would run significant reputational risks. Many people are horrified by the thought that they surrendered their genetic data to trace their ancestry, only for it to now be potentially used in ways they never consented to.

“Anybody touching this data is running a risk,” Kumar, who is the director of Fox’s Center for Business Analytics and Disruptive Technologies, says. “But at the same time, not touching it, they might be losing on something big as well.”

Read More: 23andMe Filed for Bankruptcy. What Does That Mean For Your Account?

Training LLMs
Companies like OpenAI and Google have poured time and resources into making an impact on the medical field, and 23andMe’s data trove may attract interest from large AI firms with the financial means to acquire it. 23andMe was valued at around $48 million this week, down from a peak of $6 billion in 2021.