Lawyers need not fear an immediate rise of the machines, it emerged today, after a discussion on making arbitration fit for the future concluded that artificial intelligence (AI) will not be able to issue rulings in the near-future. Although panellists said AI would undoubtedly cause changes to the legal profession and have an impact in arbitration disputes, it was accepted a final decision could not be handed over to a machine. International firm Hogan Lovells, which hosted a discussion at its Hong Kong office, asked whether given that AI can assess likely outcomes of cases and perform document reviews, it is realistic to ask if this could be extended to actually making a final ruling. The discussion comes against a continuous debate about the impact of'lawtech'. James Kwan, partner at Hogan Lovells, said there are'few laws' that explicitly ban robots from being decision makers.

Opinions are divided when it comes to AI -- artificial intelligence. On one side, we have the supporters of AI -- investing in huge companies such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Baidu, and so on. The UAE is the only country with a Ministry of AI. China has recently invested $150 billion in order to become the leading AI country by 2030. And, on the other side of the aisle, there are people like Elon Musk, who warned that AI can be a threat to human civilization.