AI Confidential: Protecting Trade Secrets When Every Employee Has an AI Tool

AI Confidential: Protecting Trade Secrets When Every Employee Has an AI Tool

Trade secrets have become more attractive as patent protection grows less predictable, particularly for software, AI-related innovation, data-driven tools, business methods, diagnostics, and other assets that may be difficult or impossible to protect effectively through patents. But in the AI age, trade secret protection is no longer simply a question of whether information is valuable and confidential. It is increasingly a question of governance, platform choice, employee behavior, vendor terms, data control, and whether the company can prove that reasonable measures were actually in place.

This panel will examine how generative AI is changing trade secret practice, including the risks created by public AI tools, prompt retention, training rights, confidentiality terms, privilege, readily ascertainable information, and internal AI policies. The discussion will also consider when trade secrets make strategic sense, when patent protection is still necessary, and how companies can protect competitive advantage without accidentally destroying the very secrecy they are trying to preserve.