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Expert perspectives on AI in parliament
The CIP team recently spoke to three people leading on AI in parliament. We asked them about their current work and where things are heading.
Patricia Almeida is the Deputy CIO of the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil, and coordinator of the CIP hub on parliamentary data science. The Chamber has a track record as a leading incubator and early adopter of AI, most notably through its flagship Ulysses project. Patricia recently concluded global research on AI in public institutions:
Currently, there are three groups of parliaments when it comes to AI. The first group consists of parliaments that have already completed some AI projects, resulting in working solutions. Now these parliaments are making things more sustainable, especially on the policy and strategy fronts. They also see a need to develop requirements for public procurement that encompasses AI services. The second group is parliaments using AI in ‘lab mode’, where solutions are trialed and tested, with the aim of demonstrating benefits to parliamentary leadership to get support and funding. Then there is a third group who do not use AI yet, where many still need all the basic IT infrastructure, including legislative systems, and more critically data governance, before doing AI. Each group has different needs and can benefit from guidance and support, especially from inter‑parliamentary networking.
Fotis Fitsilis heads the Department for Scientific Documentation and Supervision at the Scientific Service of the Hellenic Parliament, Greece. He is currently researching AI in parliaments, developing basic parliamentary guidelines around AI, and working on a European Commission project about integrating smart functionalities into law‑making. He emphasized the importance of political leadership and inter‑parliamentary cooperation:
Only a small fraction of parliaments has the capacity to develop AI‑based innovations and introduce them on their own. The others need substantial guidance and technical support. The job for IT directors in many parliaments is a challenging one. They have to integrate AI tools with legacy systems. This bottom-up approach will have its limits, and it’s important to get support from parliamentary leaders. Parliaments – including their leaders – will need direction, which organizations like the IPU and UNDP could offer. Inter‑parliamentary networks like CIP are ideal for building a community of practice around AI that actively seeks to support parliaments in designing, establishing and operating AI.
Ludovic Delepine is the Head of the Archives Unit at the European Parliament. He coordinates the CIP hub on IT governance, and holds a PhD in AI. The Archives Unit is an early adopter of AI, and recently launched a questions dashboard and advanced content search based on automatic named-entity recognition. These tools help visitors examine 38,000 motions for resolutions, parliamentary questions and historical studies across 20 years of archives. There are also exciting AI projects in the pipeline. Ludovic highlighted the need for close cooperation between business and IT teams in parliament when implementing AI‑based solutions:
AI is already in parliaments. Almost everyone is talking about it. As we explore specific solutions, we mustn’t go just by function – speech to text, for example. Instead, we should go by policy domain, such as working on legislation. This way you bring the business side together with the IT people. One without the other leads only to digital frustration and not digital transformation. The business people in parliament want to see use cases, want to know how this can benefit them. When this happens, they are able to relate the technology to their business needs. And when business is on board, they’ll bring IT with them. The pace of AI developments is very fast; every two months of new solutions surpass anything seen before. People will have many questions, both at the business and technical level. Hence maintaining an exchange on use cases – how AI gets applied in parliaments – is very much needed.
AI is a fast‑emerging phenomenon. The one certainty is that the conversation in 12 months will look nothing like today’s. Some pioneering parliaments are already embracing AI, while the majority are waiting to see its potential. Whatever the future may hold, parliaments will manage this technology shift better and more safely if they continue to work together and share their ideas and experiences.