Preservation Obligations for Artificial Intelligence Chats

Courts Treat AI Chats as Discoverable Records: Recent court decisions confirm that AI chatbot interactions fall under existing discovery rules and are treated like emails and other forms of electronic communication.
Same Legal Risks and Obligations: The classification means that AI chats carry the same legal risks and obligations as other electronically stored information, with gaps in preservation potentially leading to sanctions.
Preservation Obligations: Companies must take reasonable steps to preserve relevant AI communications once they reasonably anticipate litigation to avoid legal consequences.
Challenges in Preservation: AI chats may not be stored or retained in the same central way as traditional emails. Employees might use personal accounts, and some platforms may offer limited retention periods or allow deletion of history.
Updating Information Governance Practices: Companies should update their information governance and litigation-hold practices to account for AI tools used throughout the organization.
Practical Steps for AI Communication Management: This includes identifying AI tools, evaluating retention settings, updating litigation holds to cover AI communications, and instructing employees to preserve relevant data. Coordination with IT and vendors is also crucial.

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