NARA Guidance: Decide When AI Material Becomes a Record
Understand how to distinguish between AI-generated materials that qualify as Federal records and non-records by applying NARA's 2026 guidance. This lesson helps you learn to evaluate AI outputs based on their use in official business, document decisions using a Records Decision Log, and ensure compliant records management in DoD and federal environments.
A team can intervene quickly once a workflow drifts, but records management fails earlier, when the team assumes the answer is automatic. The common mistake is treating anything that involved AI as automatically a Federal record, as though the tool decides the status. That belief shows up as two bad habits that feel safe in the moment. One is saving everything indefinitely because nobody wants to delete the wrong thing. The other is deleting AI working material casually because it looks like scratch work. Both choices dodge the real question, which is how the material was used in ...