The American Arbitration Association-International Centre for Dispute Resolution (AAA-ICDR) has announced the creation of an AI-native arbitrator designed to handle construction disputes, the first in a planned series of tools with limited human engagement.

The tool, slated for launch in November, was announced by AAA last week. Since 2023, the association has been working on a variety of AI tools, including a chatbot, meeting scheduler, and tool for writing arbitration agreements. The new tool is unique in that it will deliver assessments based on the input of the parties.

“We built [these tools] both because we thought they would bring value, either to our staff or to our users, but also because they would help us learn what the technology could do well,” said AAA-ICDR president and CEO  Bridget Mary McCormack. “We were thinking about the future and thinking about some of the bigger bets we could make. The AI arbitrator is one of those bigger bets.”

The tool is designed solely for documents-only disputes—that is, ones that don’t require testimony. And the association is beginning with construction cases because it’s where it has the most information to work with, and also an area where speedy resolutions have value. “It is an area in an industry that we just have deep expertise and deep history in, so we have a lot of awards in documents-only construction cases,” she said.

However, she added, she’s confident that the AI tool can expand to more sophisticated cases in short order, when users are ready for it. “While I believe the technology will be able to listen to human testimony and evaluate where it’s consistent or inconsistent across an evidentiary record, I think users are not ready for that yet,” she said. “So I don’t think testimony is appropriate yet for where users are, and there’s lots to do with all the cases that don’t have testimony.”

The AI tool will require a human arbitrator to validate (and if needed, revise) the decisions it makes. But rather than sidelining humans from the arbitration process, McCormack said she believes the technology will expand the market for arbitration services.

“Right now, the public and private justice systems and dispute resolution systems in the United States resolve very few disputes—most disputes go unresolved,” she said. “And they go unresolved because people can’t afford litigation and can’t afford arbitration. 92% of Americans can’t afford lawyers to help them with their civil justice problems, and that means they mostly give up on those problems. This technology can give us an opportunity to 10x or 100x the number of disputes we can resolve.”

While the release of the tool in November will inform the association of any adjustments it needs to make, AAA-ICDR is already pressing forward on adapting the AI tool for additional use cases. 

“Within two years, even our human-led arbitration process will operate on an AI native case management platform,” she said. “We’re going to be providing better and better service, no matter what service you want.”