AI questions at your deposition: what you'll be asked and how to answer
Answer in brief: the AI questions at deposition are about 3 things: what you used, what it saw, and whether the opinion is yours. Answer from a log you kept as you worked, in short true sentences, and never minimize. In the 3M trial, the expert's walk-back from "AI did not write my report" became the story.
Limits: We read every rule, ruling and product page on the date shown and did not test any product with patient records. Court summaries here are not legal advice; how your court treats AI use depends on the jurisdiction and the judge, so ask retaining counsel.
Why AI questions now come up at every expert deposition
A testifying expert's process has always been fair game. What changed is the record. A chatbot keeps a dated history of every question you asked, and courts in 2026 began ordering parts of it produced. In Conservation Law Foundation v. Shell (D. Conn., 2026-05-18), prompts an expert used to cull documents were ordered produced as part of her methodology. In Villanueva (D. Nev., 2026-09-29), the court protected the expert's prompts and draft-report work but required the ChatGPT case summaries he consulted (EDRM, read 2026-11-12). Counsel will ask about AI because there may be a document behind the answer.
The Villanueva expert had not disclosed his ChatGPT use in response to an earlier subpoena for everything he considered. It came out at his deposition. That sequence, discovery first and disclosure second, is the one to avoid.
16 questions, what each is after, and answers that hold
The answers are models, not scripts. Use one only if it is true for you, and agree the wording of anything about privilege with retaining counsel.
| # | Question | What counsel is after | An answer that holds, if true |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Did you use any artificial intelligence in this engagement? | A yes or no on the record, to test against documents later | "Yes. I used [tool] to sort and index the records and [tool] to search the literature. I did not use AI to form or write my opinions." |
| 2 | Which tools, which plan, and when? | Whether a consumer plan touched health information | "[Tool], on [plan] under a business associate agreement, between [dates]. It's in my log." |
| 3 | What did you upload? | Privacy and protective-order breaches | "The records counsel sent me, [page count] pages, to [tool] only." |
| 4 | Did counsel know you used it? | A split between you and the lawyer who hired you | "Yes. I told counsel in writing on [date], before I uploaded anything." |
| 5 | Do you still have your prompts and the outputs? | Spoliation, or a gap in production | "Yes, I kept them as counsel instructed." |
| 6 | Read me the prompts you wrote. | A prompt that assumes the answer, like the 3M expert's "Show how 3M is 0% at fault" | Neutral prompts need no defense: "List every visit with the treating provider and date." |
| 7 | Which sentences in your report did a tool write first? | The Rule 26 duty that the report be "prepared and signed by the witness" | "None of the opinions or reasoning. The chronology appendix was generated by [tool] and checked by me against the cited pages." |
| 8 | How did you check what the tool gave you? | Whether there is any check at all | "I checked every line I rely on against its cited page, and a sample of the rest. Here's what I found wrong and fixed." |
| 9 | Did the tool make any mistakes? | A claim of perfection they can then break | "Yes, [example]. That's why I check. None of them is in my report." |
| 10 | How does the tool decide what to include? | The Weber problem: an expert who can't explain his own method | "It reads each page and lists dated events with the page they came from. I don't rely on its selection; I read the pages that matter to my opinion." |
| 11 | What is the tool's error rate? | A vendor number you can't defend | "I don't rely on a vendor's figure. I rely on my own check of the lines I used." |
| 12 | Did you read every page of the record? | Whether a summary replaced your review | Answer exactly. If you read selected pages in full and the rest through the index, say so and say how you chose. |
| 13 | Where did this article come from? Did AI find it? | A Kohls-style invented or misdescribed citation | "I found it through [tool], then read the full paper. Here is where it supports my opinion." |
| 14 | Did you use AI to calculate anything? | Numbers nobody can reproduce | "No. The intervals in my report come from the record dates, in a spreadsheet I can show you." |
| 15 | Did you use AI to prepare for today? | Your preparation materials; Villanueva protected them, but don't count on it | "I used [tool] to list hard questions. My answers are my own." Agree in advance with counsel how to handle a request for that chat. |
| 16 | Would you use this tool in your clinical practice? | Kumho's "same intellectual rigor" test | Answer honestly. If you use record tools or literature search in practice, say so; if not, explain why the litigation use is narrower. |
The walk-back, and how to avoid it
The 3M standard-of-care expert first testified "AI did not write my report, that's incorrect." Moments later he said it helped with "formatting and everything else" (CBS News, 2026-09-18, read 2026-11-12). Plaintiffs' counsel said they had 300 pages of his prompts. After the deposition the defense pulled him from its witness list, and the plaintiffs subpoenaed him to testify about his prompts at trial.
3 habits prevent this:
- Describe your AI use in the broadest true terms first. "I used it to sort, index and search" is safer than "I didn't use it to write anything," which invites a document that says otherwise.
- Match your answer to your log. Read your AI-use log the night before, the same way you reread your report.
- Don't guess about what a tool does. "I don't know how it works internally; here is how I checked it" is a complete answer.
Deposition readiness checklist
Tick what is true today. The checklist runs in your browser; nothing is sent anywhere.
Gaps in the first 5 items are counsel conversations, not things to fix alone. If you deleted chat history, say so to counsel now; it is far worse to have it come out at the deposition.
During and after the deposition
- Don't use AI during the deposition. Your answers must be yours, in real time.
- Ask to see any document you are questioned on. If counsel reads a prompt aloud, ask for the page and date.
- Correct the transcript, not the story. If you misspoke about a tool, fix it through errata with counsel, promptly.
- Update your log if the case continues and you use any tool again before trial.
Related: the disclosure template for your report, and the worked example that produces the log this checklist asks for.