WHAT MEDIATORS CAN LEARN FROM AI - PART THREE

These days, online dispute resolution platforms resolve millions of consumer disputes. Increasingly these programs are being used in the courts and offer some form of third-party mediation. Ethan Katsh uses the term “digital justice” to describe consumer disputes and negotiations that employ technology to resolve problems, such as being harassed on Twitter or challenging negative reviews on Airbnb.

Worldwide, countries are beginning to use artificial intelligence or digital justice in their judicial processes. In Estonia, artificial intelligence adjudicates small claim disputes under a certain dollar amount, and in Canada artificial intelligence is used in some areas of the law, such as strata (as condominiums are known in British Columbia) property disputes and motor vehicle claims below a certain amount.

But no country has done more to digitize its justice system than China. Its far reaching Smart Courts Initiative includes internet courts; tracking of sentencing and judgment outcomes; hearing recording storage; facial recognition to verify litigant’s identity; blockchain-based systems to authenticate evidence; and more. Much of the development of China’s systems has been built by major tech firms like Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent.

According to the Zheng province government website, parties register with their mobile phone, describe the dispute and upload materials. Mediators conduct an online video session, and if the parties reach resolution, they apply for judicial confirmation of their online agreement.

Rather than fully automated decision platforms for negotiation, the design most likely favored in Western cultures will be platforms that evaluate options for outcomes and suggest options leaving it to the human participants to resolve the disputes themselves.