Originally from World Arbitration and Mediation Review

PREVIEW

i. Introduction

Artificial intelligence (“AI”) has evolved to the point of quickly becoming a staple in many economic activities.  It has also become a disruptor by replacing human work, like machinery did during the Industrial Revolution. The legal world is not an exception. The fast-growing legal technology industry has developed different applications of Large Language Models (“LLM”) and other AI tools for case management and other tasks. At the same time, legislators have turned their attention to regulating the use of AI in the justice sector.  Typical questions that arise in this context refer to the impact AI might have and the risks it might pose to fairness, confidentiality, access to justice, democracy, and ethics, just to name the most salient concerns. AI tools have also become a headline topic in every international arbitration-related forum during the last few years. So far, the primary focus has been on the intersection between AI, arbitration—and other forms of dispute resolution—issues related to enforceability, and emerging areas like third party funding (“TPF”).

This article contributes to the debate in the international dispute resolution field by focusing on the interaction between AI and TPF. The discussion offered here highlights the potential of AI to balance access to justice with the financial interests of those involved, and its ability to contribute to attain efficiency and equity in dispute resolution. TPF in arbitration has been extensively studied, with research examining both its benefits and limitations. These studies explore TPF’s global expansion across different jurisdictions, as well as its effects on access to justice, procedural fairness, and system integrity. While numerous academic and industry publications have analyzed how various jurisdictions have developed regulations to govern TPF in arbitration, there has been limited exploration of how AI and other Web3 technologies might transform this domain. This article examines the potential influence of AI on third-party funding through a comprehensive analysis of AI applications in international arbitration and the implications of this emerging technology for the TPF landscape.