Your AI-Generated Documents Are Not Protected According To First-Ever Federal Court Ruling

As businesses increasingly turn to artificial intelligence (AI), a recent federal court ruling now confirms for the first time that information shared with public AI platforms, even for information believed to be protected by attorney-client privilege or work-product doctrine, may later be discoverable and used as evidence. This ruling serves as a stark warning for all businesses and individuals that rely on public AI platforms for legal matters, especially where confidentiality and privilege are at risk.

Brief Background

In United States v. Heppner, Bradley Heppner used the AI platform Claude to prepare defense strategy documents after learning he was the target of a criminal investigation stemming from his alleged misconduct as an executive of several corporate entities.¹ Heppner argued that the documents were protected by attorney-client privilege and the work product doctrine because the documents contained information he had learned from his attorney, were