AI Will Shape the Future of ADR

Artificial intelligence (AI) has already begun transforming the practice of law in profound ways. Beyond basic legal research and document automation, AI performs contract review, predicts case outcomes, and powers "legal chatbots" for basic advice.

These emerging capabilities will reshape the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) realm and will eventually generate monumental impacts. Mediation, arbitration, and other alternative dispute resolution processes stand primed for technology-driven upgrades, but AI creates new risks as well.

AI’s Potential

Savvy attorneys and executives already incorporate analytics to guide legal strategy and settlement decisions by calculating risks or forecasting costs. But we've only scratched the surface of data-fueled insights. Courthouse data remains scattered and disorganized, and aggregating repositories of historical case data promises sharper analytics in the future.

Machine learning algorithms can already scan hundreds of thousands of court filings and rulings, and sometimes other public data, to predict outcomes. Legal technology companies like Lex Machina, Trellis Research, Premonition, and Darrow apply such analysis toward litigation strategy and anticipating outcomes and damages.

The impacts only expand from there. Contract review software flags areas of ambiguity ripe for dispute. Predictive coding streamlines discovery by targeting only the most relevant documents using algorithmic assessments. And as blockchain models evolve, smart contracts with automated dispute resolution coded directly into self-executing agreements become reality.

AI’s Risks

At the same time, AI carries disruption, ethical, and fairness risks if improperly deployed within dispute resolution. Research has shown certain algorithms inherit human biases from imperfect training data that require safeguarding. The EU even proposed regulations for high-risk AI applications to address potential discrimination. So alternative dispute resolution systems must ensure any AI integration meets strict impartiality standards.

Access barriers raise further concerns if the best analytical tools remain siloed within large corporations and law firms. And over-optimizing ADR for efficiency metrics risks overlooking due process or consumer protections if parties simply become "data points" rather than parties receiving individualized consideration. The rush to capitalize on analytics and AI must balance against arbitration's historical credibility pillars—namely expert real-world decision-makers, access to justice, and procedural efficiency.

Implementation Challenges

Successfully navigating rapid innovation cycles will also challenge ADR providers. Tech startups iterate quickly while large institutions prefer cautious and calculated adoption. So a delicate balancing act emerges between implementing next-generation ideas while maintaining methodical vetting that leaves no integrity or accountability gaps.

Make no mistake - AI, predictive analytics and allied technologies will shake up established alternative dispute resolution norms in the coming years. Lawyers and ADR organizations staying ahead of the curve will innovate and thrive while laggards risk obsolescence. But indiscriminate adoption independent of ethical guardrails could threaten the hard-won foundations of commercial mediation and arbitration. Progress demands prudence.

Conclusion

With challenge comes opportunity, however. Thoughtful deployment of legal technology innovations can promise increased rather than restricted access. Navigating the coming shifts in alternative dispute resolution hinges on asking difficult questions around transparency in analytical tools as well as their interpretability by a spectrum of users. But make no mistake–some form of algorithmically-enhanced future is inevitable. Lawyers and business leaders must simply ensure human wisdom and ethics shape its course favorably.