# Synthetic AI preservation handoff

An invented contract dispute involves employee AI drafts and copied documents. The handoff identifies what legal and IT owners must resolve before deletion.

Fictional matter, custodians, dates and records. No real litigation hold, preservation action, rights-request decision or court finding is represented.

Source: https://aona.ai/resources/guides/employee-ai-chats-legal-hold/
Sources checked: 2026-09-21

## One matter, several record locations

### Legal scope

Matter, issues, custodians and period

### AI records

Conversation and uploaded file

### Other copies

Shared draft, local file and relevant event evidence

### Handoff

Actual preservation, verification and authorised release

| Handoff field | Populated fictional scope | Owner or unresolved question |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Matter | MATTER-EX-30: invented dispute about delivery commitments. | Legal owner confirms the real issues and preservation duty. |
| Custodians | Fictional support lead and operations lead roles. | Identify actual custodians and relevant accounts; do not include every employee by default. |
| Time range | 1 June to 31 July 2026, invented scope. | Legal owner confirms and revisits the actual relevant period. |
| AI locations | Conversation TEST-CHAT-30 and uploaded file TEST-FILE-30. | Workspace owner identifies actual preservation/export capabilities and limitations. |
| Other copies | Draft copied to a shared document and local download. | Document/endpoint owners preserve the relevant copies and provenance as directed. |
| Deletion conflict | Routine expiry and proposed offboarding could remove relevant material. | Resolve with legal and IT before the affected deletion; no live setting is changed here. |
| Verification and release | No preservation action or release has occurred in the exercise. | Record actual checks and later authorised release instructions. |

## Review checklist

- [ ] Obtain the matter-specific direction
  Identify issues, custodians, time range and the relevant information before applying a real hold.
- [ ] Map every relevant location
  Distinguish chat content, uploads, copied outputs, local files and activity evidence.
- [ ] Resolve deletion conflicts
  Coordinate scheduled deletion, rights requests, verification and eventual release with the responsible legal and records owners.

## Included example files

- employee-ai-preservation-handoff.md
- employee-ai-preservation-handoff.csv
- synthetic-ai-preservation-locations.csv

## Source references

- Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37: https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_37 (2026-09-21)
- EU GDPR: Regulation (EU) 2016/679: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/679/oj/eng (2026-09-21)

Use the worksheet within the relevant legal, contractual and technical scope. It is not a certification or a record of an installed-product test.