The Invisible Threat: How AI Can Threaten Trade Secret Protections

Intellectual Property attorney Terry Wikberg wrote an article for Legaltech News examining how artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping trade secret protection and creating new risks for companies that rely on proprietary information. He explains how large language models (LLMs) and other AI tools can aggregate, analyze and infer information from public sources, quickly reconstructing valuable trade secrets from seemingly unrelated disclosures such as marketing materials or conference presentations. Terry explores the resulting legal implications for trade secret owners, including heightened scrutiny of secrecy measures and the growing role of AI-assisted reverse engineering, in addition to discussing how AI's capabilities affect the "readily ascertainable" metric used in trade secret defense. He also offers practical recommendations for businesses, including auditing public disclosures, strengthening internal controls and proactively evaluating trade secret protection strategies in the AI era.

READ: The Invisible Threat: How AI Can Threaten Trade Secret Protections (Subscription required)