How Practitioners Are Really Using AI: New Insights for the ADR Community

Artificial intelligence has moved quickly from theory to reality across the dispute resolution sector. Over the past year, practitioners have been encountering AI not just as a topic of discussion, but as something that now shapes preparation, submissions, expectations, evidence and party behaviour.

To understand this shift more clearly, we collected structured responses from the early cohorts of the AI for Mediators: Practical Skills programme, supported by wider sector intelligence from mediation, arbitration, ombuds and complaints-handling environments.

The full report – How Practitioners Are Really Using AI: Emerging Insights for the ADR Community – is now available to download below.

What’s striking in the findings is how measured and pragmatic the adoption has been. Practitioners are using AI cautiously and purposefully, mostly in preparation, drafting, summarising and clarity work. They see AI as a thinking assistant, not a substitute for judgement, neutrality or relational skill.

At the same time, the report highlights scenarios where parties are already using AI in ways that challenge or distort process – from AI-generated submissions to altered images and unrealistic expectations about how ADR should run. These shifts affect not only mediators, but arbitrators, ombuds, adjudicators and complaints specialists.

Below is a short summary video, followed by the full downloadable report.

Download the full report (PDF):

How Practitioners Are Really Using AI Emerging Insights for the ADR Community

As AI increasingly interacts with dispute resolution processes, safe, structured and ethical practice will become a core professional expectation. We hope this report helps practitioners across ADR think clearly about what’s changing – and what needs to happen next.