ChatGPT conversations enter public record after court presentation

That late-night ChatGPT session where you asked something you’d never Google? It might end up in a courtroom. A Washington Post investigation published on August 27 found that at least a dozen US civil and criminal court cases over the past two years have referenced chatbot conversation logs, primarily from ChatGPT. The logs have been subpoenaed, submitted as evidence, and entered into the public record, exposing deeply personal content that users almost certainly assumed would stay between them and their favorite AI. Your AI therapist will testify against you The core issue is deceptively simple. ChatGPT conversations are treated by courts as standard electronic records. They carry no special protection. No attorney-client privilege. No therapist-patient confidentiality. No Fifth Amendment shield. One of the more prominent cases involves R.K.C., a teenager who was part of litigation against major social media companies over alleged addiction-related harms. Defense attorneys submitted R.K.C.’s October 2024 ChatGPT conversations in court filings. Those logs included sensitive discussions about a potential $1 million settlement and personal issues, the kind of material that would nor...