By Zena Ismail | Contributing Writer

In the past year, artificial intelligence (AI) has risen in popularity, impacting the world around us, from politics and economics to our personal lives. Several AI tools, such as ChatGPT, have been made publicly available and have forever changed the way we complete our daily tasks. It is not too far off to imagine how much AI will impact politics around us. Furthermore, the topic of AI continues to rise in political spheres, particularly revealing how AI may impact certain practices like mediation. Many people are concerned about this concept, but it is unavoidable that technology will be integrated into politics; however, having it integrated in a transparent manner is critical, and it can be claimed that technological integration can actually benefit political processes. Sometimes a third party that is unbiased, has no interests, nor emotional intelligence can be needed in political discussions, particularly in mediation. On March 18, several organizations joined together to inform the cyber mediation project aimed to educate mediation practitioners about new technologies and tools used in peacebuilding and mediation, but to what extent we can use these tools are still under study. This article will discuss how we may avoid a dystopian picture of technology and to what degree AI tools can be utilized to assist in procedures that demand high levels of impartiality, such as the mediation process.

What is mediation?

In order to determine if AI could assist in the process of mediation, we need to take a look at what is considered to be a good mediator. Mediation is a peaceful method of conflict management that can soften up parties, promote diplomacy, lead to ceasefires, or result in a peaceful settlement. It involves a third party bringing their ideas, knowledge, and interests to the negotiation process. Several conflicts proved that mediation isn’t very effective, and instead leads to conflict stalemate. Therefore, trying newer technology and skills can be promising. Furthermore, the reason why AI can be seen as a good fit for aiding the process of mediation is because of its supposed impartiality and its endless flow of knowledge.

The nature of AI and how it can aid.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the theory and development of computer systems that can perform tasks that normally require human intelligence. Machine learning is the process of developing AI, which involves three types of learning: supervised, unsupervised, and reinforcement. These learning methods, in addition to the three types of intelligence—assisted, automated, and augmented—and other traits, are what enable AI to support mediators. Additionally, these characteristics can help with many tasks that humans don’t excel in .These characteristics and how fast they are developing show that AI has so much to offer to humanity, but only if regulated and used appropriately, particularly in politics. AI can help mediators by assimilating UN resources and using NLP and machine learning to analyze arguments. Furthermore, dialogue  is essential for mediation, and something that mediators fail at most of the time. AI can help generate neutral responses to help move any dialogue forward. Furthermore, AI can support mediators by providing real-time language translation, which can facilitate communication and promote understanding. Additionally, AI may suggest solutions, but a human mediator should review them to ensure they are humane and realistic, and therefore no machine should fully take charge of much of our tasks because it will never be able to fully evaluate a policy. AI can’t understand morality nor ethics and can’t actively apply them to every output. This can change In the future, but as far as concerned the lack of emotional intelligence in AI is what makes this task impossible

What about the algorithm? 

AI is a double-edged sword when it comes to impartiality. Bias is still found in its algorithms, and even follows the power dynamics we are familiar with in our current world. AI’s algorithm was created by humans, and humans are the main beneficiaries of it. Hence, bias in AI is more of a human issue than a machine issue, and this acts as a limitation when it comes to its role in mediation. As a result, any resolution produced by AI may be biased, and this highly depends on the input of information from the stakeholders in the process of mediation. However, newly developed open-source AI tools like AI Fairness 360 can identify and eliminate bias in machine learning models by giving the content a class label such as sexism, racism, etc., then running a bunch of metrics.

The Future

The use of AI tools to assist in the mediation process is without a doubt a game changer, and whether AI has a positive or negative impact, it will inevitably make its way into the political sphere and interfere in processes such as mediation. AI still has a long way to go in addressing bias, which is more of a human problem than a technological issue. Therefore, AI must be used ethically and responsibly, with proper oversight and regulation, and with diverse perspectives to mitigate bias and ensure fairness.