Federal Courts Mandate AI-Specific Protective Orders for Confidential Discovery Materials

Summary

Federal courts are rapidly updating protective order language to address the risk that confidential discovery materials could be exposed to generative AI platforms that retain user inputs, use them for training, or share them with third parties. Between 2025 and early 2026, at least five federal district courts have issued or analyzed specific protective order provisions restricting the use of generative AI platforms with protected materials. The article establishes that proactive AI-specific provisions are no longer optional but must be standard practice in litigation, providing best practices for attorneys and courts to safeguard confidential information from being ingested by AI systems.

Source

bskyFederal Courts Mandate AI-Specific Protective Orders for Confidential Discovery Materialsjdsupra.com