Artificial Intelligence is revolutionizing almost every area of human endeavor, and divorce is no exception. In their efforts to get correct answers, many divorce clients are inputting significant, detailed information about their lives, including potentially embarrassing or even damaging descriptions of their spouses’ (or their own) actions and assets. Caution should be a divorce client’s watchword.
What Divorce Discovery Means for Your AI History
When you go through a divorce, each side can request (“discover”) a wide range of information relevant to issues such as child custody, finances, and conduct. If it is within your possession, custody, or control, it can be discovered. If you use AI, your internet history may meet those criteria, making your AI requests available for your spouse and their attorney to review.
Examples of AI Queries That May Be Discoverable
If you ask ChatGPT or some other AI application about how to hide assets or the best way to relocate your children or how to respond to an abusive, narcissistic spouse, your questions may fall in the category of what can be discovered. If you ask AI how to respond to your spouse about a specific topic or question, this too may fall into the category of discoverable evidence.
How Inconsistent AI Chats Can Undermine Your Case
Taking inconsistent positions as you go through your divorce can be harmful. If you tell AI you don’t really want 50-50 custody but then ask for equal time in court, your spouse’s lawyer may ask you, “Were you lying then, or are you lying now?” A judge may take a dim view of your waffling. Admitting anything in AI that is inconsistent with your position in court can harm your chance for a positive outcome.
If you use AI to vent, create strategy, or reveal what you want, your queries will create a permanent record that is available for your spouse and their attorney.
Why AI Conversations Are Not Confidential Like Attorney Communications
Your conversations with your lawyer and anyone who works in your lawyer’s office, whether in person, by phone, by email, or even by text, are confidential. You won’t have to reveal them in court or anywhere else. AI “conversations” are not confidential. When you “discuss” your legal strategy in AI, you are potentially discussing it with your adversary.
What the Opposing Party Can Request
The opposing party has a right to ask for devices, accounts, or exports of chat history. You may be asked in interrogatories (written questions that you answer under oath) whether you have used AI tools to discuss your divorce.
You should assume that anything you write in AI can be used in court. Do not use AI to plan how you’ll hide assets or how to keep your spouse from having the children. Do not put in any personal information that you do not want the other side to have access to.
Any legal questions about your divorce are best handled by discussing them with your attorney in a secure, confidential manner.
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