Prompts, privilege & discovery
R (Munir) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department
The tribunal warned that uploading client documents to open-source ChatGPT could breach confidentiality and waive privilege.
Privilege warning01
Case background
Material facts
The issue arose in a case involving AI-generated false authorities, prompting the tribunal to address the professional risks of placing client material into open consumer systems.
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The decision
The court’s ruling
The tribunal stated that uploading client documents to open-source ChatGPT could put them into the public domain, breach confidentiality, and waive privilege.
Why it matters
What the decision means
The tribunal’s warning is broader than several U.S. decisions. Before uploading client material, lawyers must understand the tool’s data terms and confirm that its protections satisfy professional duties and court orders.
Limit of the ruling. This was professional-conduct commentary, not a litigated motion to compel, and the tribunal’s technical characterization of public-domain disclosure is unusually broad.
Primary reading