Questions to AI Models May Be Discoverable
On February 17, 2026 in U.S. v. Heppner, 1:25-cr-503 (S.D.N.Y., Feb. 17, 2026), Judge Rakoff held that a defendant’s written exchanges with a public generative AI platform were not protected by the attorney-client privilege or the work product doctrine. The Government had seized approximately thirty-one documents memorializing the defendant’s interactions with the public platform. Defense counsel asserted privilege because the inputs included attorney-learned information, were created to facilitate consultations with counsel, and were later shared with counsel.
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