Matthew Hutson, writing for the journal Science in his recent article observed, “You may know the art of the deal, but there’s a science to it, too. Some people look at Smartsettle and wonder if this is Artificial Intelligence. But the better description is Augmented Intelligence is you wish to use the AI label. Smartsettle does not do your negotiating for you. She's more like a type of genie where you are still in charge. Tell her what you want but be careful what you wish for.
First use of Robot Mediator in UK Court
Ian Burns reported the settlement of a legal dispute by a robot mediator in the UK as the first of its kind. After the case had been in the courts for approximately three months Graham Ross introduced the parties to Smartsettle ONE. The parties were able to solve their dispute in a couple of hours in a case facilitated by Ernest Thiessen.
Massive Application Potential
Science spoke with the primary author of the paper, Tim Baarslag, to learn about the potential for intelligent negotiations. He replied that “In principle, there are tons of applications. Humans often fail to reach the best agreements where computers can. On top of that, computer negotiation can be done very fast…. Think of the Paris climate deal, or simply coalition agreements for the next government.”
Preference Elicitation
The challenge of preference elicitation - the way that interests on each side of a negotiation feed into the process, cannot be underestimated. Exciting developments are on the horizon as the Smartsettle team continues its research in this area. There are great opportunities for vastly superior negotiations made possible through greater computing power and carefully designed algorithms. The future is bright for negotiators and dealmakers. More importantly the promise of a more democratized way to build fair, win-win agreements is significant and worthy of further effort.
Arbitration
Yes. Smartsettle can be used for arbitration too, but not as the decision maker. It's only a humble genie in the room. If arbitration is needed, the wise human entrusted with that role would do well to offer the parties a chance to first negotiate their issues with Smartsettle. Only after the parties reached an impasse would the human arbitrator need to intervene. Smartsettle's Expert Neutral Deal-closer (END) is specifically designed to deal with the rare impasse that might occur. And if the parties have been using Smartsettle Infinity, the final deal can still be optimized. Learn more by listening to a podcast where Graham Ross is a guest of Amy Schmitz.
Resources
To see the article by Matthew Hutson, find it here.
To read the research presented at the conference, find it here.
Smartsettle ONE can deliver benefits for a wide array of organizations from governments to insurance companies. To learn how your firm or agency can provide your users with intelligent Smartsettle-powered negotiation solutions, contact us today. We look forward to exploring the best options with you.