A parent who received a letter requesting permission for their child to participate in peer mediation at school asked be if they should refuse or encourage it.

Most likely the child was referred to peer mediation because of a conflict with another student. Peer Mediation has been used for a wide range of such conflicts in schools, including minor physical aggression (hitting, kicking, scratching, and pushing), verbal aggression (teasing, name calling, insults, and threats), rumors and gossip, and minor property damage or loss. Most professionals do not recommend Peer Mediation be used for bullying.

In Peer Mediation, students who received training act as neutral parties to help other students resolve conflicts. Except for the training and ongoing administrative support, the mediation is entirely carried on by students for students.

Disputes referred to Peer Mediation are first reviewed by the school coordinator to determine if the conflict is appropriate and to confirm the students are willing to participate.

Studies show results in written agreements from 60% to 90%. Regardless, the mediation itself gave the students an opportunity to express themselves and be heard in a calm, safe, and non-threatening environment. Studies also have documented reduced teacher and administrator time spent on discipline, reduced violence and crime in the school, as well as reduced suspensions, increased self-esteem and academic achievement of the student mediators.

I recommended participation.

Artificial Intelligence is a challenging topic to approach as concerns are being expressed by many.

But probably everyone reading this, whether realizing it or not, has been involved in an AI-based negotiation or mediation without recognizing it as millions have been conducted.

A bit of history of what is now known as “Online Dispute Resolution” makes the point. It all started with e-commerce and the founding of eBay in 1995. Soon with millions of users and transactions, a small percentage had disputes with packing, shipping, and delivery. The Center for Information Technology and Dispute Resolution at the University of Massachusetts Amherst was asked to test a pilot project to mediate these disputes. They rejected using the label “mediation” as they recognized most people did not understand the term. They settled for the simple “problem.”

The purchaser would select a problem category from a list and then be asked to provide details in a few sentences. The system would then suggest some potential solutions for the purchaser to select from. The system would then contact the seller and ask if they would accept any of the potential solutions that had been accepted by the purchaser. By 2010, eBay handled 60 million disputes with over an 80% settlement rate.

In 2011, eBay spun off the software to other environments, including property tax assessments and medical insurance reimbursements. Other technology companies, including Amazon, payment provider PayPal, ride-sharing Uber, housing-sharing Airbnb, and service companies TaskRabbit and Upwork, implemented their own systems.

Beyond a dispute over delivery of a product purchased online, the use of AI continues to expand. For example, China’s Internet Courts use AI to take evidence and issue rulings. Similar technology is being introduced in some U.S. states for small claims and traffic violations.

Next I’ll examine the strength and weaknesses of AI-based dispute resolution.