The legal validity of the adoption of AI in decision-making in international commercial arbitration

The adoption of AI in arbitration practice has increased significantly in the past few years. Even though AI has not been adopted to date for the purpose of arbitral decision-making in international commercial arbitration, questions arise regarding its use in the decision-making process by arbitrators. There have been new regulatory developments on this in the past year with the publication of several guidelines on the use of AI in international commercial arbitration and the promulgation of the EU AI Act. The chapter carries out an analysis of these instruments and the current arbitration framework in order to provide a clarification on the evolving position of the law on this matter. The chapter namely explores the extent to which the regulatory framework considers that the use of AI tools in the decision-making process by arbitrators could lead to influencing the arbitrators’ decision which could lead to delegation of justice. The chapter argues that the international commercial arbitration framework does not expressly prohibit the use of AI in decision-making by arbitrators but that this use can come under breach of the arbitrator’s personal mandate and due process.

This material has been published in revised form in The Cambridge Handbook of AI in Civil Dispute Resolution edited by Schmitz, A.J. et al [https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009589086.023]. This version is free to view and download for private research and study only. Not for re-distribution or re-use. © copyright holder.