Artificial intelligence and liquidation: Reality, destiny and fantasy

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly reshaping the administration of corporate liquidation. Beyond its established role in financial prediction and data analytics, AI is now assisting insolvency practitioners in identifying the onset of financial distress, managing creditor communications, tracing and valuing assets and enhancing procedural efficiency. These developments challenge not the normative foundations of liquidation but the institutional and operational architecture through which it is administered, supervised and regulated. This article examines the integration of AI into liquidation through three analytical dimensions: reality, the practical deployment of AI tools in detecting insolvency risks and supporting liquidators; destiny, the evolving transformation of professional duties, evidentiary standards and regulatory oversight as AI becomes embedded in insolvency administration; and fantasy, the speculative yet instructive prospect of automated liquidation systems capable of managing corporate wind‐ups with minimal human intervention. Methodologically, the article adopts a doctrinal and comparative legal analysis, complemented by an interdisciplinary approach. It argues that AI can enhance the efficiency, accuracy and transparency of liquidation, provided that its deployment remains subject to robust standards of explainability, professional accountability, procedural fairness and meaningful human oversight. The future of liquidation therefore lies not in replacing human judgement with automation, but in augmenting professional decision‐making through accountable and auditable AI systems.