The Alberta government is about to take the next logical step in artificial intelligence — using it to draft a proposed law.
Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally says the plan is to use AI to develop and introduce the Alberta Whisky Act when the house sits next spring.
"AI is a tool that is being leveraged across many sectors in Canada," Nally said in a statement Tuesday.
"In sectors such as health care, it can be a useful tool to assist health professionals in diagnostics, helping them find abnormalities during screening procedures for patients."
Nally said the AI-generated legislation will then be vetted to ensure all checks and balances are met.
"This would make Alberta the first jurisdiction in Canada to utilize AI for this purpose."
Alberta's government says on its website the legislation would establish the production standards for a liquor product called "Alberta Whisky."
"The legislation would also support the long-term growth and competitiveness of Alberta's whisky sector by providing clear standards for product labelling, aging, geographic indicators and marketing, while enabling innovation and access to international markets," it said.
The Canadian Press reached out to all Canadian provinces and territories to confirm whether they have used AI to draft legislation.
Spokespeople responded in all regions except Ontario, saying their jurisdictions have never used AI to draft legislation.
"Before legislation gets to a stage of being ready to draft, the policy work that supports it is a product of often years of research and analysis and typically informed by engagement with stakeholders and/or consultation with Yukon First Nations," Yukon's government added.
"We are not aware of any instances of governments in Canada having introduced any bills written by AI."
Randy Goebel, a University of Alberta computing science professor and AI researcher, says there are several pros and cons to legislators using AI.
"Humans drafting legislation have got it wrong for centuries and the drafting of legislation is tedious, hard work," said Goebel in an interview.
"So, of course, you should use tools that help accelerate the drafting of legislation. To accelerate the creation of accurate legislation is a great goal. … Legislators who don't use AI will be replaced by those who use AI."
But Goebel said his research, which includes using AI to develop mock legislation, has so far shown the technology is faulty.
"It turns out to require changes," he said.
He said the faults are related to the technology's Natural Language Processing system.
Goebel says the system is a subfield of AI and focuses on how computers translate machine language to human or natural language.
"Forty per cent of the errors are just because saying something in natural language, (such as English), is open to interpretation, and it's much broader, richer, than programming language," he said.
"That's why in place has to be processes to test whether the legislation makes sense or not before it becomes passed as law."
Alberta's government is not the only AI trailblazer. Albania introduced an AI minister in September to tackle corruption and promote transparency and innovation.
The minister, named Diella, was created earlier this year in co-operation with Microsoft as a virtual assistant on the e-Albania public service platform. It has helped users navigate the site and get access to about one million digital inquiries and documents.
In May, the United Arab Emirates introduced a government department, called the Regulatory Intelligence Office, that will use AI to draft, review and update its laws.
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graeme Roy
