A sizable proportion of the 221 practitioners Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP surveyed said they already used AI tools and were keen to apply them to other arbitration tasks.
However, a majority drew the line at having a robot think up attack strategies and solutions for them, according to the survey released on Thursday.
While 73% of respondents said they were happy to get a bot's help to write up factual summaries, more than 50% objected to their use in drafting legal arguments and submissions, expert reports or opinions, and formulating arbitral awards.
One key area of concern was the integrity of evidence. Nearly 90% of respondents were very concerned about the risk of deep fakes, which are fabricated audio and visual recordings that can be difficult for the naked eye to detect. As a result, detection was a top priority across the board, with 80% saying they wanted a tool that could pick up any traces of AI in texts and images.
Claire Morel de Westgaver, an arbitrator and partner at BCLP, said there is a "growing expectation" that arbitrators should know how to identify the risks associated with AI tools in the field.
"Arbitrators will undoubtedly require more advanced training and assistance with respect to AI technology and its implications for the conduct of arbitration," she said in a release from the firm.
One example the report alluded to was the ability for parties to test award valuations that accountants might base on an AI model. If a party has to foot the bill for hundreds of millions of dollars, the underlying valuations should "not escape the scrutiny of proceedings," Anthony Theau-Laurent, partner and co-head of the arbitration practice at Accuracy, suggested.
Despite these fears, only 63% of respondents were in favor of increased regulation over AI tools in arbitration. Most preferred a soft law route, getting bodies such as the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law and the International Bar Association to take on the burden.
A slew of law firms have embraced the technology this year, rolling out their own AI assistants to stay ahead of the game — from Macfarlanes LLP adopting the Harvey tool to BCLP launching the "Orbital Copilot."
But as curiosity and uptake grows, so does concern. In September, the International Bar Association warned lawyers that AI is the most critical issue facing the profession. It had noted a disparity in AI regulation across the world.
While the European Union has a draft AI Act and the U.S. has begun an AI bill of rights, consumer groups are stepping up pressure to tighten safeguards, saying that they are not moving fast enough.
--Additional reporting by Jamie Lennox. Editing by Ted Pearcey.
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