An AI data firm offered to buy my client work files. Should I sell them?

Should you sell your client work files to an AI company?

In most cases, no. Client deliverables, working papers and project files usually belong to the client or are covered by a confidentiality clause, so an AI data firm offering to buy them is asking you to sell something you may not own. The same is true of files you took from a former employer.

The legitimate version of the same idea exists, but it runs the other way. The client company, not the consultant, licenses its own records, through an authorized sponsor, under a signed agreement with defined scope. A consultant, agency owner or freelancer can make that introduction without handing over a single file.

Why the answer is usually no

Three separate questions sit under the offer, and you need a yes on all three.

1. Who owns the work? Under US copyright law, a work made for hire is owned by the employer or the person for whom it was prepared. See the Copyright Office circular on works made for hire and 17 U.S.C. 201. For an independent contractor, a commissioned work counts as made for hire only if it falls in one of the listed categories and a signed writing says so, as set out in 17 U.S.C. 101. Otherwise your contract decides who owns the deliverable.
2. Who owns the content inside it? Even if you own the slide deck, the numbers, names, org charts and process details inside it came from the client.
3. What did you promise? Most engagement letters and NDAs restrict use of client information for any purpose other than the engagement, and often require return or destruction when it ends.

This is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Confirm with your own counsel before acting.

What are you actually being asked to sell?

Use this table to place the offer in front of you.

Only the third row is plausibly yours to offer, and the fifth only with the client's written approval for licensing. Even then, read the agreement before answering.

The five-minute check before you reply

• Reread your master services agreement, statement of work and NDA for ownership, confidentiality and return-or-destroy clauses.
• Ask the sender who the end buyer is, what the files will be used for, and whether the client's name or data could be identified.
• Check whether any file contains personal data, client financials or anything a third party gave the client.
• Ask whether the client has been approached. A genuine offer will not object to the client being asked.
• Hold the files until a lawyer you trust has read the buyer's paper.

If the sender discourages you from telling clients, treat that as the answer.

What to do instead: introduce the client

The company that holds the records can license them properly. If a client has 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded), several years of documented operations, rights to the data and an authorized sponsor such as the owner, CEO or CFO, it may qualify for a license through SourceX. The company keeps ownership, approves scope and price, and signs only if the terms work. Nothing is binding until then.

Your role as a partner is the introduction and basic fit information. You never export, upload or describe the client's confidential records. SourceX qualifies the company, the company completes its own data inventory, and de-identification and redaction rules are agreed before any work begins.

You can run a first screen with the company fit checker, then read the who qualifies page for the baseline.

What to say to the sender and to the client

To the AI data firm:

To a client you think is a fit:

How partner rewards work

Partners earn 25% of the eligible platform fees SourceX actually collects from the referred company's licensing deals, capped at $100,000 per referred company. The reward is paid only after the buyer pays and SourceX receives its fee; no reward is guaranteed. It is never deducted from what the company receives. Licensed professionals, including lawyers and accountants, should check their own rules on referral fees and disclosure before registering. See the referral earnings calculator and the FAQ.

When this route does not work

• The client's data mainly concerns its own customers, and nobody has authority to license it.
• The client never reached 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded), the company baseline.
• Records were deleted or nobody can export them.
• The owner will not consider an exclusive license for an agreed term.

For the employee version of this problem, see employees selling company documents to AI companies. For the buyer-side view, see what AI companies do with licensed data.

Next step

If you advise companies that hold years of records, register as a partner and introduce one, or point the sponsor to sourcex.si/apply with your referral link. Leave your own client files where they are.