NITI Aayog is evangelising the role of artificial intelligence-powered online dispute resolution (ODR) as a fourth party to mitigate arbitration, legal issues in the country's judiciary, ministries, and its various departments. However, it admits that maintaining privacy and data security, and the country's digital divide would be a challenge while working on ODRs. The public policy think tank of the Indian government made these observations and recommendations in a recently published report titled "Designing the Future of Dispute Resolution: The ODR Policy Plan for India". What exactly is ODR? ODR refers to the usage of information and communications technology (ICT) tools to enable parties to resolve their disputes, the report said. This includes a range of technologies from audio-visual tools, LED screens, etc. However, NITI Aayog stresses that its ambit goes way beyond that, and also includes the application of technologies…
