Would you trust an AI arbitrator?

The AI arbitrator will first be available for documents-only construction cases, “a high-volume area where efficiency and speed are essential”, the AAA-ICDR said. The AI arbitrator rapidly reviews the parties’ pleadings, exhibits and legal authority, shortening the time to award.

It has been developed with “transparency and accountability in mind”, draws on established legal reasoning patterns and is paired with human oversight – an AAA arbitrator who reviews, validates and issues the award. This ‘human in the loop’ approach should give parties confidence that outcomes are reliable and fair.

The AAA-ICDR developed the AI arbitrator in collaboration with QuantumBlack, the AI consulting arm of McKinsey & Co.

How does it work? First, the parties submit their claims and evidence, which are summarised by the AI arbitrator. The parties then validate that the summaries are accurate. Next, the AI arbitrator parses claims, analyses evidence, applies law, and drafts a proposed award with record citations. Finally, the AAA-trained human arbitrator reviews, revises as needed, finalises and issues the award.

The AAA emphasises that the AI arbitrator outputs a proposed award – it is not a final decision. Arbitrators working on AI-led cases receive specialised training in reviewing AI-generated analyses.

For its launch, the AI arbitrator was trained on more than 1,500 real AAA construction awards and refined through expert human calibration. This training gives the system domain-specific expertise while protecting confidentiality, the AAA said.