Peter McQueen speaks on Artificial Intelligence at the Maritime Law Association of Australia and New Zealand 50th Conference

4 September 2025. Subject: AI: A Maritime Odyssey

ArbDB Chambers, Member and independent arbitrator and mediator, Peter McQueen, cautioned at this Conference in Melbourne. Australia that Artificial Intelligence (AI) that, whilst being described as an "efficiency booster" for international arbitration, it should be used with great caution. https://www.thedcn.com.au/news/artificial-intelligence-a-maritime-odyssey

He noted that a key element in the approach to AI is to avoid using it as a means of delegating decision-making, where complex legal reasoning is involved. Peter showed a clip from the iconic sci-fi film 2001: A Space Odyssey in which HAL, an AI sentient computer, refuses to open the pod bay door on the spaceship, against the instructions of human astronaut Dr Dave Bowman. Peter noted that the film has been as described as a cultural warning or a cautionary tale.