The Third or The Fourth Party? The Impact of Artificial Intelligence in ADR

Abstract

Technological advances make our lives easier; we use any sort of information technologies and gadgets every day for tasks that just a few years ago were impossible to see at the reach of the hand. That technology that is disrupting the way to do things in every field is also present in the dispute resolution arena, computers now offer support to negotiators and mediators during their job and they might probably take a more active role in the future. The object of this paper is to understand how new technologies like Artificial Intelligence influence dispute resolution and how the ADR professional must prepare for the future of their career. The research adopts a pragmatic philosophical approach supported by relativistic ontological and subjectivist epistemological assumptions. A mixed methodology was applied in the data collection phase of the projects, being the most relevant the autoethnography. The research concluded that important advances in computer systems and Artificial Intelligence still have to take place to see fully automated systems taking over the role of mediators or arbitrators, and our assumptions of trust and fairness influence our perception of computer systems resolving our disputes.