AAAi Chat Book

People navigating arbitration, mediation, or other forms of dispute resolution often face a steep learning curve — unfamiliar rules, complex procedures, and legal terminology that can be hard to parse without professional help. The American Arbitration Association (AAA) wanted to change that by making its authoritative content accessible to everyone, not just legal professionals.

We built AAAi Chat Book as a free, public tool that lets anyone ask questions in plain language and get verified, source-backed answers. Whether you're a self-representing party preparing for an arbitration hearing, a small business owner dealing with a contract dispute, or a legal professional looking up specific rules, the Chat Book draws from AAA's own publications — including Case Preparation and Presentation by Jay E. Grenig and Rocco M. Scanza, AAA-ICDR rules and standards, and specialised editions for labor arbitration and non-attorney users.

What makes it different

Our architecture was deliberately designed to minimise hallucinations. Answers are composed only from the passages the system retrieves, and citations are assigned by the retrieval step, not by the model. We implemented a semantic RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) pipeline that ranks, reranks, and retrieves document fragments by multiple criteria, returning either a precise, source-backed result or an honest "no answer" when nothing in the corpus supports one. Every answer shows exactly which source it draws from, so users can verify independently.

What we delivered

The system provides direct source links, citations, and document previews for every answer. Answers are composed only from retrieved passages, and every citation comes from retrieval, not from the model. When nothing in the corpus supports an answer, the system refuses with "no answer" rather than fabricating a response. Multiple Chat Book editions serve different audiences — case preparation, non-attorney guidance, labor arbitration and mediation practice — each tailored to its users' needs.

The result

AAA now offers a free, publicly accessible AI tool that makes dispute resolution guidance available to everyone — not just those who can afford legal counsel. The Chat Book handles thousands of queries, helping people understand arbitration procedures, prepare their cases, and navigate the ADR process with confidence. It either returns a verified answer or transparently acknowledges the lack of data — a level of honesty that builds the trust essential for a tool people rely on for legal guidance.