On AI and Data Center Beats Ohio AG Annotations Revealed Plan to Deny Records Now Withdraws

On AI and Data Center Beats  Ohio AG Annotations Revealed Plan to Deny Records Now Withdraws by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack SDNY COURTHOUSE, July 1 —Since first covering the artificial intelligence legal citation hallucination case involving lawyers Peter LoDuca and Steven A. Schwartz in filing against Colombian airline Avianca in 2023, Inner City Press has been on the A.I. beat.    Now in 2026 Inner City Press has submitted a number of freedom of information / state public records law requests to state Attorneys General for complaints about a.i. and about data centers they have received. We have much to report, but today June 29 we turn to Ohio.  Inner City Press has filed an appeal with the Ohio Attorney General's Office after the office's own June 29 acknowledgment letter, responding to an Inner City Press public records request filed June 20, arrived with what appear to be internal staff notations still attached. The request sought records concerning Ohio's role in the 42-state coalition investigation of OpenAI, consumer complaints about ChatGPT and other AI chatbots, and the Ohio AG's internal analysis of whether existing consumer protection law applies to AI-generated harms. Rather than a clean acknowledgment, the letter that came back included, after nearly every bullet point of the original request, brief notations: "Deny 1345.05," "Deny common interest," "Deny work product," "Deny overbroad," "Deny deliberative process privilege," among others.  Inner City Press has appealed each of these on the merits. Among the grounds: Ohio Revised Code 1345.05 protects materials obtained through civil investigative demands, not run-of-the-mill coordination records between state attorneys general; "common interest" and "work product" are litigation doctrines, not enumerated exemptions under Ohio's Public Records Act; and the Ohio Supreme Court rejected a generalized "deliberative process" privilege under that Act nearly three decades ago in State ex rel. Gannett Satellite Information Network v. Petro. The letter also flagged two categories of records as "FIND & PRODUCE" — meaning the office's own review already concluded those materials are responsive and should be released. Inner City Press has asked that those be produced within five business days, without waiting for a fuller dispute over the rest.  Inner City Press posted the Ohio AG's acknowledgment letter to its DocumentCloud here On July 1, this: "Re: Your Public Records Request (SLTF # 15954) Dear Matthew Lee, Thank you for your response. When preparing our acknowledgment, an internal draft was inadvertently sent that included preliminary impressions about the request, such as potential privileges and possible areas to search. That information was not intended to be shared, does not represent our final assessment, and should not be treated as a formal response to your request. We are currently conducting the appropriate search for responsive records. Once that review is complete, we will provide a proper production, including identification of any records that are exempt or privileged under applicable law. We respectfully request that the document sent in error be destroyed and not relied upon in any way. At minimum, please consider it withdrawn and superseded." Consider it done - while we do not destroy or unpublish documents, we clarify them and will not legally rely on them  - we'll consider it that way and await the proper production / responsive documents. *** Your support means a lot. As little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here to become a patron. Feedback: Editorial [at] innercitypress.com Mail: Box 130222, Chinatown Station, NY NY 10013 Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.  Copyright 2006-2026 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com