Stephen L. Wright brings more than 30 years of experience representing owners, design‑build and EPC contractors, subcontractors, and investors on complex industrial construction, automated and robotics‑enabled supply chain, and automotive manufacturing projects.
His practice combines high‑value transactions, including EPC and automation contracts, IP licensing, ERP implementations, and the evolving application of AIOps, with commercial litigation, arbitration, and strategic outside general counsel services.
He is also one of the featured panelist trainers of our AI Arbitrator. He discusses his experience with the tool.
Q. What surprised you most when you first worked with the AI Arbitrator?
The level to which the AI was able to draw out many of the more important facts of a case and point to the most pertinent documents.
Q. Where did your judgment matter most in shaping or refining the outcome?
As an initial matter, making sure the relevant facts were captured and in fact reflected correctly. I would often catch damages errors, especially in calculation. Where judgment made a difference was in seeing through the surface level of the facts summarized to get a better sense of the nature of the transaction and how the dispute developed, especially where perhaps an emotional element had become a factor in the dispute.
Q. What do you think people misunderstand most about AI-led arbitration?
That it’s not just an automated evaluation and decision process, but an AI-augmented one where the final decision is in the hands of the arbitrator. This point could likely be brought home to potential parties more expressly to allay fears of the “black box” of AI.
Q. What role do you see AI-assisted decision-making playing in the future of arbitration and dispute resolution?
Helping to survey and summarize evidence, especially voluminous evidence, and to produce timelines and elevate the most important documents and communications.