Guest Lecture: The Use of AI in International Investment Arbitration
The DSI Community AI & Law invites you to the guest lecture by Ata Türkfiliz on the use of AI in international investment arbitration, taking place on October 28, 2026 at 17:00 at the DSI.
AI is increasingly positioned to streamline investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) by accelerating repetitive tasks, managing voluminous records, and assisting with procedural drafting and damage calculations. Yet, its integration faces acute structural and legal boundaries. Although transparency in ISDS is higher than in commercial arbitration, the actual volume of awards remains scarce, with only dozens rendered each year.
These decisions are often heavily redacted and lack binding precedent, creating a data paradox rather than true big data. Beyond data constraints, core adjudicative functions require human judgment and normative evaluation. AI cannot replicate moral reasoning, assess non-economic harms, or conduct the proportionality balancing between foreign investor rights and public interest regulations, such as environmental protection or the right to water. Crucially, delegating evaluative tasks risks triggering the «EU AI Act Trap»: under Article 6 and Annex III, systems used to interpret facts or apply the law to specific disputes are classified as high risk. Relying on opaque algorithmic logic undermines procedural fairness, breaches the mandate of non-delegation, and violates the requirement for a reasoned award, exposing decisions to annulment or non-enforcement on public policy grounds.
In ISDS mediation, generative AI offers useful avenues to break impasses and model creative solutions. Even so, durable settlement agreements require human empathy, trust, and genuine consensus to preserve enforceability and social legitimacy. Ultimately, a hybrid model must prevail, keeping human neutrals in full control and utilizing AI strictly in an advisory capacity to safeguard due process and systemic legitimacy.
The event will be held hybrid. Online participants will receive the meeting link shortly before the event. Please register via the link below.
About the Guest Lecturer:
Ata Türkfiliz is a PhD researcher at the University of Antwerp Faculty of Law and the Antwerp Center on Responsible AI (ACRAI), as well as a registered attorney at the Istanbul Bar. He serves as an Executive Committee Member of the Silicon Valley Arbitration & Mediation Center (SVAMC), Co-Chair of the SVAMC Young Professionals Group Steering Committee, and a member of the SVAMC AI Task Force, contributing directly to the revision of the official commentary of the world’s first guidelines on the use of AI in international arbitration. He brings substantial European policy and legal experience, notably serving as an Invited Independent Expert for the European Commission (DG CNECT) on the deployment of EU critical digital capacities and future AI strategies, with a dedicated focus on trustworthy, explainable, and green AI frameworks. He holds an LL.M. in European and International Law from the Europa-Institut at Saarland University (specializing in International Dispute Resolution and Foreign Trade and Investment, 2024), a Master’s in Public Law from Istanbul University (2024), and a Bachelor of Laws from Bilkent University (2021).
When / Wann: October 28, 2026, 17:00 - 18:00
Where / Wo: Digital Society Initiative, Rämistrasse 69, 8001 Zurich
Language / Sprache: English
Registration / Anmeldung: Link
Organisation: DSI Community AI & Law
Contact / Kontakt: ai-law@dsi.uzh.ch