Stop Treating AI Chats as Private: What <em>United States v. Heppner</em> Means for Privilege, Confidentiality, and Discovery.

It’s 2026, and many professionals still treat generative-AI chats like a private channel. In United States v. Heppner, a federal court rejected that assumption in a way that matters for privilege, confidentiality, and discovery. The court held that certain AI-generated materials created through a defendant’s interactions with Anthropic’s Claude were not protected by attorney-client privilege or the work-product doctrine, making them subject to production.