FROM THE EDITOR’s PEN
‘… the creation of powerful artificial intelligence will be “either the best, or the worst thing, ever to happen to humanity”’[1] – Stephen Hawking
The rapidity of technologies powered by artificial intelligence (AI) has been quite astounding since Hawking said this in 2016. Equally astounding is how quickly these technologies have advanced and are continuing to do so into even more powerful ones. Something the Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist, Bill Gates, said during an interview on a television network earlier this year[2] was that within 10 years: ‘AI will replace many doctors and teachers—humans won’t be needed “for most things”’.
Irrespective of the correctness or otherwise of Gates’s statement, and no matter how scary it might be for the members of the human race, AI is a tool that we must embrace and use efficiently and, especially, ethically.
Although AI driven technologies could be employed harmfully[3] – and there are enough evil-minded actors throughout the world that obviously will make such choices – arbitrators and other professionals involved in alternative dispute resolution (ADR), are duty-bound to align their use of this technology with the highest of moral and ethical values.
As part of the ongoing debate on how AI needs to be used daily by those involved in ADR, Mr Chris Binnington, an Association director and a past chairperson thereof, has penned a most useful article[4] on the appropriate approach to how this tool ought to be used.
The debate of necessity needs to be ongoing, and the discussions will become all the more complex as further technological advances are made. All the role-players involved (including governments) the further development of all such AI driven technologies will have to accept responsibility to ensure around the issues of ethics, data protection, privacy, and government regulation.
We hope and trust that you will enjoy this edition of Arbitrarily Speaking – Happy Reading!
Eric Dunn SC
Editor[5]
[1] Stephen Hawking: Speech delivered by him at the launch of the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence on 19 October 2016, per https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/oct/19 (accessed 15 October 2025).
[2] https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/26/bill-gates (accessed 15 October 2025).
[3] ‘As far as technology itself and education is concerned, technology is basically neutral. It’s like a hammer. The hammer doesn’t care whether you use it to build a house or whether on torture, using it to crush somebody’s skull, the hammer can do either.’ G. Veletsianos, ‘On Noam Chomsky and technology’s neutrality’, January 23, 2014, per https://www.veletsianos.com/2014/01/23/on-noam-chomsky-and-technologys-neutrality/ (accessed 16 October 2025).
[4] Chris Binnigton ‘For Construction Arbitrators and Adjudicators: Will AI Tools Help or Hinder the Decision-Making Process?’
[5] The editor is a senior member of the Johannesburg Bar and a Fellow of the Association of Arbitrators (Southern Africa) NPC. He practices at the Maisels Group of Advocates, Sandton.
