{"id":300404,"date":"2025-11-22T21:27:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T21:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/300404\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T21:27:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T21:27:10","slug":"alberta-government-eyes-ai-to-write-legislation-for-1st-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/300404\/","title":{"rendered":"Alberta government eyes AI to write legislation for 1st time"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 4 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWrite legislation that lays out the rules for an \u2018Alberta Whisky Act\u2019 and what might constitute an Alberta whisky.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the actual query would surely be more complex than that, an Alberta minister says the government is considering using AI technology to draft a forthcoming piece of legislation.<\/p>\n

Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Dale Nally has been asked to lay out the standards for \u201cAlberta whisky,” and he said the task represents the right sort of test case for the burgeoning technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important, but there’s no hearts or lungs involved,\u201d Nally said. \u201cThere’s no lives that are going to be lost. And because it is legislation that’s going to be laying out a process from the grains to the water and how things are distilled, if a mistake is made, we can course correct.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nally said he met with Alberta Technology Minister Nate Glubish and Justice Minister Mickey Amery to ensure everyone was aligned with the idea.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody agreed. Minister Amery\u2019s going to have his team look it over once it’s done. So if there’s any mistakes, there’ll be a chance for a bit of an off-ramp, course-correct,\u201d Nally said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we’re kind of excited that you can actually use AI to write legislation right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AService Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Minister Dale Nally, pictured at Hansen Distillery in Edmonton on Nov. 18. Nally says the government plans to write its Alberta Whisky Act using AI. (Joel Dryden\/CBC)<\/p>\n

It’s also exciting to potentially be the first jurisdiction in Canada to use AI in such a way, Nally said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The governments of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan and the Yukon told CBC News they’re not presently using AI to draft legislation, while others didn\u2019t confirm by publication time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we continually explore tools that can improve efficiency and clarity, the process remains a human-led legal function to ensure accuracy, consistency across the statute book, constitutional compliance, and alignment with government policy,\u201d reads a statement from the B.C. Ministry of Attorney General.<\/p>\n

AI expert says human touch still required<\/p>\n

Jonathan Schaeffer, a professor emeritus of computer science at the University of Alberta and the former Canada Research Chair in artificial intelligence, sees the move as “innovative and groundbreaking” \u2014 as long as the proper safeguards are in place.<\/p>\n

“As we all know, we’ve seen lots of news stories where people have blindly used AI to do something, and it’s full of factual mistakes, and somebody usually gets embarrassed by it,” Schaeffer said.<\/p>\n

\"AJonathan Schaeffer, a professor emeritus of computer science at the University of Alberta, says any plan to draft legislation with artificial intelligence will still require a human touch. (Submitted by Jonathan Schaeffer)<\/p>\n

Using AI to draft legislation is “fine,” Schaeffer said, as long as humans take responsibility along the process. Humans must understand what the legislation is saying, what it’s missing and what needs to be fixed, he said.<\/p>\n

“They also have to put it in the Alberta context. The AI has been trained on the world’s knowledge, so it has a vast amount of information there,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Many of the things it’s trained on and might include in legislation just might not be right for our country, our province, or the sensibilities of the Alberta culture or mindset.”<\/p>\n

Proof of concept<\/p>\n

In October, Nally was tasked with defining the rules<\/a> for a product to be legally labelled as Alberta whisky.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The government is currently consulting with industry on what the definition should be. \u201cAlberta whisky,\u201d of course, means different things to different people.<\/p>\n

WATCH | What makes an Alberta whisky?:\"\"<\/p>\n

Alberta whisky could become a thing \u2013 legally<\/p>\n

Kentucky bourbon, French champagne or even Mexican tequila are all iconic drinks known for their region of origin. Does Alberta whisky deserve a place on that shelf?<\/p>\n

Keenan Pascal, CEO of the Edmonton-based Hansen Distillery, said he\u2019s excited about the prospect of Alberta better representing its products on an international scale.<\/p>\n

To Pascal, an \u201cAlberta whisky\u201d has a lot to do with the particular ingredients and environment in the province.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we go to Japan and go internationally, Canadian whisky already has a really great profile,\u201d Pascal said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNow this Alberta story is just another arm, another expansion of this amazing history of whisky making.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TwoKris Sustrik, left, master distiller of Hansen Distillery and Keenan Pascal, CEO of Hansen Distillery, are pictured. Pascal says the province\u2019s climate and the ingredients it provides could help contribute to the definition of Alberta whisky. (Joel Dryden\/CBC News)<\/p>\n

Should AI be used to write the whisky rules, Nally said the legislation would still be subject to all levels of approval to ensure checks and balances were met.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe may go down this path and say, yeah, it was great, but we wouldn\u2019t do it again, right? Or we may say, wow, this is something that needs to be incorporated,\u201d Nally said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not going to get rid of the legislative writer, but it will certainly be a complement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nally said he’s hopeful the whisky rules will come forward on the legislative agenda this spring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300405,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[62,276,277,49,48,61],"class_list":["post-300404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}