THE DIGITAL GAVEL: NAVIGATING THE FUTURE OF ALTERNATIVE AND ONLINE DISPUTE RESOLUTION IN THE ERA OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND DECENTRALIZED JUSTICE

AUTHOR – ADARSH SINGH* & AISHWARYA SINGH**

* LAW COLLEGE DEHRADUN, UTTARANCHAL UNIVERSITY, DEHRADUN, UTTARAKHAND, INDIA

** ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, LAW COLLEGE DEHRADUN, UTTARANCHAL UNIVERSITY, DEHRADUN, UTTARAKHAND, INDIA

BEST CITATION – ADARSH SINGH & AISHWARYA SINGH, THE DIGITAL GAVEL: NAVIGATING THE FUTURE OF ALTERNATIVE AND ONLINE DISPUTE RESOLUTION IN THE ERA OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND DECENTRALIZED JUSTICE, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (9) OF 2026, PG. 01-07, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344. DOI – https://doi.org/10.65393/IJLRV6I91

Abstract

The transformation of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) into Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) is a radical change in the modern legal design. Out of the necessities of international trade, a persistent administrative backlog, and the swift development of computational technologies, ODR has outgrown its beginnings as a digital facilitation instrument. This paper is a comprehensive doctrinal, legislative, and technological study of the future of dispute resolution. The main aim is to critically analyze how emerging technologies, namely, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and blockchain-based smart contracts, intersect with well-known substantive and procedural legal frameworks. Applying an extensive doctrinal approach, the analysis considers recent statutory provisions, such as the Mediation Act, 2023, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, and the AI Act, as well as international documents, such as the Brussels I Regulation Recast and the New York Convention. Moreover, the report presents a detailed analysis of landmark judicial decisions, especially the fact that the Indian Supreme Court approved emergency arbitral awards in Amazon.com NV Investment Holdings LLC vs. Future Retail Ltd. The results indicate a further conflict between the technological efficiency and the constitutional provisions of natural justice. Although predictive analytics and decentralized justice systems promise unprecedented speed, they also pose significant issues in the form of algorithmic transparency, data sovereignty, and the growing digital divide. This paper finds that to maximize the utility of Algorithmic Dispute Resolution, it is essential to have a harmonized global governance structure that emphasizes the importance of the glass box explainability and human-in-the-loop supervision to maintain procedural fairness during the digital age.

Keywords – Decentralized Justice ,Algorithmic Dispute Resolution,digital facilitation instrument