Every mortgage banking executive, general counsel, and HR leader needs to answer a single question: What happens when your employees’ AI chat logs become the other side’s Exhibit A?
On February 10, 2026, Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the Southern District of New York ruled in United States v. Heppner that documents a defendant generated using a consumer AI chatbot were not protected by attorney-client privilege or the work product doctrine. The ruling confirmed what compliance professionals should have anticipated: AI conversations are discoverable, they are not confidential on consumer platforms, and they can waive privilege over the very information fed into them. OpenAI’s own CEO, Sam Altman, has publicly acknowledged that ChatGPT conversations are not legally protected and can be used as evidence in court.
This handout provides the legal framework, policy architecture, sample provisions, and actionable checklists that mortgage banking institutions need to govern employee AI use—while protecting NPI, preserving privilege, and preparing for a litigation environment where AI chat logs are the new email.
