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ARTICLE · 18 FEBRUARY 2026

Litigation Minute: Is AI-Generated Content Discoverable? What Companies Need To Know In 2026

K&L Gates
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Artificial intelligence tools are rapidly reshaping how ESI is created and stored, particularly with respect to content generated by large language models.

United StatesTechnology
Julie Anne Halter
Julie Anne Halter
Alexa Stemmler
Alexa Stemmler

What You Need to Know in a Minute or Less

Artificial intelligence tools are rapidly reshaping how ESI is created and stored, particularly with respect to content generated by large language models. As companies adopt generative AI (GenAI) tools for drafting, summarizing, analyzing, and other business uses, courts are grappling with whether GenAI Data such as prompts (what a user types),outputs (what the AI tool generates), and activity logs (data about when and how tools were used) fall within traditional discovery obligations. The details are evolving, but recent court decisions make two things clear:

  1. Relevant GenAI Data is discoverable; and
  2. Parties must treat it like any other potentially relevant ESI

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