Artificial Intelligence (AI), the notion that computerised systems can replace human thought processes and interactions, continues to gain traction in all areas of life including the legal profession and in particular in the field of dispute resolution.

Lex Machina, a Data-mining computer programme created at Stanford University in 2006, has been used to look for patterns to help with predicting the progress of cases in the US. In November 2017 there were news headlines about ‘Case Cruncher Alpha’, a project at Cambridge University, where an AI system predicted the outcome of 775 financial ombudsman cases with 86.6% accuracy. A panel of 100 experienced lawyers assembled to perform the same task achieved 66.3%. Today we now have the emergence of ‘Smart Contracts’ – agreements stored across computers (a process known as blockchain) and which are defined by computer code rather than traditional written clauses. These Smart Contracts are designed to have automatic triggers (or intelligence) and be free from manipulation caused by subsequent man-made variants.

 

 

So what does AI mean for ADR? There are a good few possibilities – all of which could be true. AI could be a tool for the mediator or adjudicator to embrace, it could be another stage in a bigger resolution process change or it just might be our competition. So are such changes positive or negative? It is hard to know without a crystal ball.

One thing is certain – we need to be thinking about this topic as things develop in order to determine what our own roles should be in the future.

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