INTRODUCTION Contributed by: Gary Born and Matteo Angelini, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr
Technology and Generative AI Investment in technology and AI continues to boom as companies have invested heavily, especially in the use of generative AI. This is having obvious and profound effects on the arbitration landscape. Many major arbitral institutions are either already using AI, or considering it, for services including vet - ting and conflict checks, transcription and award scru - tiny. There have not yet been any reports of tribunals using generative AI to assist with drafting awards, or preparing case summaries, and the extent to which tribunals may rely on AI remains controversial. A number of initiatives have emerged to address the use of AI in international arbitration. The most nota - ble are the Guidelines on the Use of AI in Arbitration (2025) published by the Chartered Institute of Arbitra - tors, and the JAMS AI Rules published in April 2024. Another key, related development is the EU’s AI Act, which entered into force on 1 August 2024, and is the world’s first comprehensive AI law that provides for EU-wide rules on data quality, transparency, human oversight and accountability. Together with an increased use of AI in the arbitral process, there has been a rise in technology and AI- related arbitrations. This increase is driven by the rapid growth of the tech industry and the increasing reliance on ever more complex technologies and AI across a range of industries. According to recent sta - tistics, information and communication-related tech - nology disputes now represents around 10% of the caseload of the International Centre for Settlement of Disputes (ICSID). Examples of such disputes include Chinese telecoms giant Huawei’s treaty claim against the government of Sweden over its exclusion from the 5G network and Uber’s dispute with Colombia. Investor-state technology disputes of this nature are likely to raise a host of new and topical issues includ - ing whether digital assets, blockchain, AI or decen - tralised assets qualify as investments. Caseload of Arbitral Institutions Arbitration continues to remain a preferred method of dispute resolution for many international businesses. A number of arbitral institutions recorded high num - bers of new case filings. The International Chamber
of Commerce (ICC) registered 841 new arbitrations in 2024, with a total of 1,789 cases being administered by the ICC Secretariat. Singapore International Arbi - tration Centre (SIAC) recorded 625 new case filings. Other institutions also recorded sizeable numbers with 362 new cases for the LCIA and 503 for the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC). The five most preferred sets of arbitral rules are the ICC, SIAC, HKIAC, LCIA and UNCITRAL Rules according to the Queen Mary University of London and White & Case International Arbitration Survey, a recurring feature of the arbitration landscape that the industry has now grown used to seeing as a periodic barometer of its progress. In the most recent survey, the most preferred arbitral seat is London, with users citing the stability of its commercial law and highly regarded judiciary. Singapore was the second most popular seat, with users noting that it is receiving a larger share of Asian disputes as many US and West - ern companies have relocated out of Hong Kong. The Reform of the Arbitration Act (England and Wales) In the UK, the process of reform of the Arbitration Act 1996 has reached its conclusion as the Arbitration Act 2025 entered into force on 1 August 2025. By far and above the most reform of the Arbitration Act 2025 is to introduce a new statutory rule that, in the absence of an express choice from the parties of the governing law of the arbitration agreement, the applicable law will be the law of the seat. This reform overturns the effects of Enka v Chubb , a Supreme Court decision of October 2020 that decided the vexed question of how to determine the law applica - ble to an arbitration agreement. In Enka v Chubb , the Supreme Court held that the default choice is the law of the contract. This is significant because, where an arbitration agreement is governed by foreign law, key provisions of the Arbitration Act 1996 do not apply, with the result that parties are deprived of the full pro - tection and support of the English courts for arbitra - tions seated in London. The Arbitration Act 2025 now provides welcome clarity to the choice of law applicable to arbitration agreements by implementing a straightforward statu -
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