This question will be addressed at a major conference around ‘online dispute resolution’ being held as part of Liverpool’s International Business Festival. Tony McDonough reports

Can artificial intelligence (AI) be used to help resolve complex litigation and negotiations and maybe even solve the Brexit impasse?

This question will be addressed at a major conference  being held as part of Liverpool’s International Business Festival on Wednesday and Thursday this week.

Called Online Dispute Resolution-Justice Re-Imagined the event will offer delegates a real-time simulation using published impact data relating to Brexit and will be conducted for the first time in the UK by ODR expert, solicitor Graham Ross, using software developed in Canada.

The software enables negotiators to put together a series of packages for agreement before declaring their position to the other parties, all the time assisting and ‘nudging’ negotiators to fully evaluate the impact of available packages and to develop their priorities in a way more Iikely to lead to agreement.  

During the sessions, experts representing both sides in the Brexit negotiations – the EU and British Government – will input data and information on a range of contentious issues such as farming, fishing rights and the Northern Ireland border to ascertain the economic benefits and drawbacks of the various options under the microscope.

It is then up to each participant to make a decision based on the economic data produced.

Former Vice-President of the European Parliament, Diana Wallis, will assist with the simulation but the lack of reality will be obvious from the rule being imposed that political factors will be totally ignored in the evaluation of packages. 

Speakers will include Lord Briggs, Justice of the Supreme Court, whose Report last year directly led to the building of the newly opened online court, and Kerry Greenidge, acting manager of the online court project.