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Arbitration and Mediation in the Age of AI

Law Next host Bob Ambrogi introduced an upcoming Suffolk Law and American Arbitration Association conference dedicated to exploring artificial intelligence’s impact on arbitration and mediation. The three‑day event, anchored by the June 12 conference, follows the ODR Forum at Harvard and culminates in a hackathon leveraging Claude code credits to prototype legal AI applications. The discussion highlighted how AI has moved from theory to practice. Colin Ruhl recalled the “fourth party” concept—technology as an active participant—and noted the rapid rollout of AI tools such as the AAA’s AI Arbitrator, botmediation.com, dyspute.ai, and ClaimBrite. The AAA‑Suffolk ODR Innovation Clinic aims to embed AI in family‑law cases, streamlining paperwork for self‑representeds and potentially expanding to represented parties. Key examples included Bridget McCormack’s leadership in launching the AI Arbitrator, which created a “thunderclap” across the industry, and a recent AAA survey of 500 senior leaders revealing that only 20 % consider their AI governance effective, with siloed efforts hampering consistency. Kelly Turner emphasized the need for transparent, non‑black‑box systems to avoid bias and hallucinations, especially in sensitive family‑mediation contexts. The implications are clear: AI will reshape dispute‑resolution workflows, offering speed, cost savings, and broader access to justice, but only if robust ethical guardrails and cross‑functional governance are established. Practitioners, courts, and tech providers must collaborate to ensure AI enhances fairness rather than undermines it.