Ai and the Truth
4 May 2026(2026-May: LinkedIn) Ai? Third parties beware. Expert witnesses also.
Association des ressources intermédiaires d’hébergement du Québec (ARIHQ) c. Santé Québec (2026 QCCS 1360): “Arbitrator relied on non-existent legal authorities, strongly suggesting the use of generative AI.”
“In an unprecedented move, the Court annulled an arbitral award after finding that the sole arbitrator had implicitly delegated his decision-making authority to a generative AI tool, which resulted in the inclusion of “hallucinated” jurisprudence and legal doctrine.”
“When parties agree to arbitrate, they contract for a bespoke dispute resolution process wherein a specific human tribunal exercises independent intellectual judgment. The use of an unverified Large Language Model (LLM) to draft the award’s substantive reasoning is a structural deviation from this agreed procedure. Furthermore, feeding confidential submissions into a public AI tool violates the confidentiality and secrecy of deliberations inherent in arbitration.”
“The Court emphasized the intuitu personae nature of arbitration—the principle that an arbitrator is chosen for their personal expertise, judgment, and authority. Relying on an AI tool to formulate the substantive reasoning without verifying the output violated the fundamental maxim delegatus non potest delegare (a delegate cannot delegate) and breached the secrecy of deliberations.” “The Court, however, added a critical caveat: not every use of AI will automatically lead to annulment. If the AI usage is minimal, or if the hallucinated references do not form the crux of the reasoning, the award might survive if the breach did not fundamentally taint the proceedings.” [Source: Lexology 4 May 2026; Wasel & Wasel – Mahmoud Abuwasel]
It is well-known that where Ai doesn’t know the answer it makes things up to be helpful. Rather like a human being would/might.
In every expert witness report I write, I confirm that there is nothing in the report generated by or sourced from artificial intelligence, unless otherwise stated.
I call upon the RICS to make it a requirement for all chartered surveyor arbitrators and independent experts. and chartered surveyors acting as expert witness to include a similar confirmation.
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