Month: January 2025

Categories
Blog

Democratic innovation through AI in parliaments

By Franklin De Vrieze.

As well as debating and adopting new legislation aimed at establishing a sustainable legal framework for the governance of AI, parliaments are also exploring and experimenting with the application of AI in their own operations. New AI guidelines by Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) can inform their efforts.

According to the 2024 AI Index Report by Stanford University, the global legislative landscape has seen a significant increase in AI-related laws over recent years. From 2016 to 2023, parliaments in 127 countries passed a total of 123 bills mentioning AI in various contexts. These laws address a variety of issues, including educational reforms, non-discrimination in AI algorithms, and the establishment of AI training programs. This trend highlights the increasing recognition of the need for regulatory frameworks to manage the development and deployment of AI technologies responsibly.

The legislative measures aim to ensure that AI advancements benefit society while mitigating potential risks of AI being manipulated or misused. Therefore, parliaments need to ensure that the adoption of AI is guided by stringent policies, ethical testing, and comprehensive training, as highlighted in WFD’s recent policy brief, “A Democratic Approach to Global Artificial Intelligence (AI) Safety.”

Current applications of AI in parliament

Parliaments have started exploring and experimenting with the application of AI in their own operations. As Dr. Fitsilis from the Hellenic Parliament argues: “the rise of AI is expected to play a significant role in transforming legislatures from paper-based organisations into data-driven institutions”.

The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) has shared insights on “Use cases for AI in parliaments”, highlighting the growing integration of AI in parliamentary functions.

  • Firstly, AI is increasingly used for transcription and translation, managing records of debates, and subtitling video content. For example, Estonia’s Parliament automates stenography, while Italy’s Senate leverages AI for translating documents. Finland’s Parliament uses AI to summarise documents and create podcast audio, and Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies uses AI to transcribe audio and video files. These tools save time, enhancing productivity and allowing staff to focus on more complex tasks.
  • Secondly, AI is introduced to assist in drafting legislation and amendments and analysing large volumes of text to identify key themes and insights. This can help in creating more comprehensive and well-informed legislative documents. For instance, the Italian Chamber of Deputies uses AI to receive, store and number amendments according to presentation time (voting order) and uses AI to compare amendments to identify similarities. Brazil’s Chamber applies AI to interpret and group amendments, while Italy’s Senate uses it to ensure compliance with drafting rules, ensuring consistency, accuracy and adherence to legal standards.
  • Thirdly, AI supports public engagement by analysing public submissions. Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies uses AI to categorise citizen comments on bills, while Italy’s Senate employs AI to facilitate natural language queries about bills, enhancing accessibility and user experience. This means AI systems are helping citizens interact with parliamentary activities, such as answering questions about legislative processes or providing information on parliamentary sessions.
  • Fourthly, AI is employed in classification systems to manage large data volumes. Italy’s Chamber of Deputies uses AI to categorise plenary session reports, while the European Parliament applies it for automatic text classification with predefined labels.
  • Finally, AI powers chatbots and user support, improving access to parliamentary processes. Italy’s Chamber of Deputies provides a chatbot for querying parliamentary proceedings, and Estonia’s Parliament uses AI to subtitle live broadcasts for the hearing impaired. AI also automates tasks like schedule management and responses to common queries, while enhancing cybersecurity.

Lessons learned

Based on the lived experience of AI in parliament, there are already a few lessons learned on the governance of AI in parliaments, in line with WFD’s new Guidelines for AI in Parliaments..

Parliaments need to adopt a cautious, step-by-step approach to integrating AI, particularly with generative AI technologies. Initial experimentation should occur in controlled environments to mitigate risks before wider implementation. Such approach is emphasised in WFD’s guidelines, highlighting the importance of pilot projects and controlled rollouts to manage potential risks effectively​.

AI systems must be developed and used in accordance with ethical principles to prevent biases and ensure fair representation. WFD’s guidelines stress the importance of developing AI systems that adhere to ethical standards, preventing misinformation and stereotyping​.

Establishing clear governance structures and transparency measures is crucial. This involves setting up auditing processes, maintaining transparency about AI usage, and ensuring that AI systems can be held accountable for their outputs. The WFD guidelines recommend comprehensive transparency measures and accountability frameworks to build trust and credibility in AI applications within parliamentary functions.

Parliaments benefit from sharing experiences and best practices regarding AI implementation. Collaborative efforts, such as those facilitated by the IPU’s Centre for Innovation in Parliament, help build a collective understanding of effective AI governance. The new Global Community of Practice on Post-Legislative Scrutiny helps facilitate dialogue on applying AI in legislative scrutiny processes, as argued by Dr Marci Harris from POPVOX Foundation.

As AI technology evolves rapidly, parliaments must remain flexible and continuously update their policies. This includes partnering with academic institutions and other stakeholders to stay ahead of technological advancements and their implications. The WFD guidelines highlight the importance of ongoing education and adaptation to ensure that both parliamentarians and parliamentary staff are equipped to handle the evolving AI landscape​.

Conclusion

By building on their existing digital infrastructure, parliaments can harness the benefits of AI while ensuring accountability and protecting democratic values. The WFD Guidelines for AI in Parliament provide a comprehensive framework for this endeavour​. Parliaments may take proactive steps to pilot these guidelines, document use cases, and share best practices globally. This will not only strengthen their role as guardians of accountability but also ensure that AI serves the public good, enhances governance, and upholds the principles of democracy.

  Europe’s first political tech summit in Berlin The summit, taking place on Saturday, 25 January, will bring together the global political tech ecosystem—spanning countries and political parties—under one roof. Westminster Foundation for Democracy will lead a panel on “Democratic innovation through AI in parliaments”. Together with the German and Hellenic Parliaments and other tech experts, the panel will explore the potential of AI in fostering innovation and resilience in parliaments worldwide, balancing technological opportunities with ethical and cultural complexities. Info and registration: https://www.politicaltech.eu/  

About the authors

Franklin De Vrieze is Head of Practice Accountability at Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD).

Categories
News

January 2025 Newsletter

Hello, everyone! We want to wish you all a very Happy New Year! 2025 looks like a busy year for parliamentary scholars already. We have lots of exciting calls for you in this first newsletter of the year.

  1. PSA General Conference, Birmingham, 14-16 April 2025
  2. PSA Academic Prizes
  3. PSA Parliaments Members Survey
  4. Calls for Papers
  5. Opportunities
  6. Upcoming Events
  7. Urgent Questions
  8. Recent Publications
  9. On the Blog
  10. Overview of Parliaments Map

If you have any notices/messages you would like us to circulate to our group, please let us know.

Best wishes,

Caroline, Diana, Ruxandra, Jack and Lauren

1. PSA General Conference, Birmingham, 14–16 April 2025

The outline programme for the PSA 75th Annual International Conference has been released, and we are happy to host six panels. We are looking forward to seeing many of you in Birmingham.

The early-bird registration is open until 21 February 2025. For Early Career Network members, daily rates are available. More information here.

2. PSA Academic Prizes

The PSA awards a number of prizes for dissertations, professional contributions, research and teaching. The deadline for nominations is on 24 January 2025.

More details on the nomination process can be found here.

3. PSA Parliaments Members Survey

Thank you to everyone who has already filled in our members survey. We are gathering your viewpoints to plan our priorities and activities.

We are still looking to hear from our members until 24 January 2025. It should only take a couple of minutes to fill in the form.

4. Call for Papers

Conference of the Standing Group on Parliaments, 2–4 July, Barcelona, University of Barcelona

The ECPR Standing Group on Parliaments is hosting its 9th flagship conference this summer in vibrant Barcelona, offering an invaluable experience for anyone studying or researching in the field.  The Call for Panels and Papers now open and inviting proposals on national, sub-national, or international parliaments. Submissions  focusing on under-researched regions are strongly encouraged.

Panel and paper proposals deadline: 12 February 2025. 

Registration deadline: 19 March 2025.

For more information please click here.

4th Global Conference on Parliamentary Studies, Athens, 13 June 2025

The Hellenic OCR Team and Széchenyi István University, in cooperation with International Journal of Parliamentary Studies and Brill invite thought leaders to address the challenges and opportunities of our time, where technology, media and geopolitical shifts intersect with democratic governance. The conference theme is: “Reinventing Democracy for the 21st Century”.

Submissions are welcome from scholars at all career stages (including PhD students and post-doctoral researchers), as well as practitioners with relevant academic backgrounds such as law, political science, social sciences, informatics and engineering.

Abstract submission deadline: 28 February 2025. Submit your abstract here.  

More information about the event can be found here.

5. Opportunities

Updated guidance: contributing your research to POSTnotes and briefings

The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) have simplified and updated its guidance for researchers to share their expertise and provide contributions to POST’s work, such as POSTnotes and briefings for parliamentarians.
Researchers can feed into POST research projects by following the instructions on the contributing to POST research as an expert webpage. Contributions can be emailed to post@parliament.uk within specified deadlines. 

Call for evidence: The Speaker’s Conference on the security of candidates, MPs and elections (UK Parliament)

On 14 October 2024 the House of Commons agreed a motion to establish a committee, to be known as the Speaker’s Conference, to consider: the factors influencing the threat levels against candidates and MPs, and the effectiveness of the response to such threats. 

The committee is currently accepting written evidence from anyone with answers to the questions in the call for evidence. You can submit evidence until Friday 7 February 2025.

6. Upcoming Events

ECPR General Conference 2025, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 26–29 August 2025 

The ECPR Standing Group on Parliaments endorsed Section S08 on Advancing the Study of Parliaments: Structures, Actors and Processes at a Crossroads.

This section seeks to advance our study of parliaments as critical institutions in representative democracies, and to examine how the role and importance of parliaments has evolved over time. It focuses on the structures and organisational aspects of parliaments, as well as key actors and their relationships within and outwith these institutions (such as individual parliamentarians, parliamentary party groups, administrative staff or external stakeholders), and the processes and practices inside these political arenas. 

For more information please see here.

7. Urgent Questions with Richard Whitaker

For those of you who have missed our latest Urgent Questions with Prof. Richard in the December newsletter, worry not! You can still read it here.

8. Recent Publications

If you would like your published research to be featured in this section, please email Caroline with details.

9. On the Blog

We would love to have more contributions on our blog. If you have an idea for a blog on some aspect of parliamentary study, please get in touch with our communications officer Jack.

  • Westminster Hall: Parliament’s Best Kept Secret?, by Cristina Leston-Bandeira and Louise Thompson. This blog is based on a paper presented by the authors to the Annual Conference of the PSA Parliaments group in November 2024 at the Senedd Cymru in Cardiff.

10. Overview of Parliaments Map

For anybody who wishes to cover any of the countries not yet covered in our map, contact our communications officer Jack.

Categories
Blog

Westminster Hall: Parliament’s Best Kept Secret?

By Cristina Leston-Bandeira and Louise Thompson.

This blog is based on a paper presented by the authors to the Annual Conference of the PSA Parliaments group in November 2024 at the Senedd Cymru in Cardiff.

Photo credit: UK Parliament / Jessica Taylor: https://ukparliament.shorthandstories.com/cet-westminster-hall-debates/index.html

On 30 November 1999 Labour MP Phyllis Starkey made history, being the first MP to introduce a debate in Westminster Hall, the new parallel debating chamber for the House of Commons.  Agreed to by MPs initially as a temporary ‘experiment’ for just one parliamentary session through which to debate topics put forward by backbench MPs and by select committees, Westminster Hall has recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. It rarely attracts much attention, though recent reforms such as the introduction of debates on e-petitions, have put it more firmly into the media spotlight. 

Despite its 25 year history, we still know little about this parallel chamber – no comprehensive research has been undertaken and internal parliamentary reviews have been very limited. Has it added value to parliamentary business, as hoped when first introduced by the first Modernisation Committee in 1999? Drawing from pilot research we have undertaken over the past few months (including analysis of parliamentary debates and interviews), we take a  closer look at the business taking place in Westminster Hall debates to identify four main ways in which these can add value to the House of Commons.

1. It discusses very specific types of topics

    Although debates taking place in Westminster Hall are wide ranging, they tend to fall into two main areas. Often they are used by MPs to raise ‘hyperlocal’ issues of the sort that would not typically be selected for debate in the main chamber because they only affect a particular constituency.  Recent examples of this type of debate include dental healthcare in East Anglia and support for the hospitality sector in Eastleigh.  Westminster Hall is also a place where very emotive topics can be debated. These are often on health-based issues which have affected their constituents, such as Helen Hayes’ recent debate on lobular breast cancer. Tabled in memory of one her constituents, Heather Cripps, Hayes pushed for better awareness of the symptoms and more research into its treatment. Members of Heather’s family attended the debate and sat in the public gallery. Debates such as this one showcase a much more human side to parliamentary politics and as such, Westminster Hall can be an arena which acknowledges the grief and pain of constituents and their families.

    2. It is a place where MPs have fewer time constraints

    One of the real benefits to talking in Westminster Hall is that there is far less pressure on time. MPs introducing a debate have longer to talk and, although time limits are sometimes imposed for particularly well attended debates, other contributing MPs will generally have more time to make their speeches. One MP told us that it gave them time ‘to breathe’, allowing them to develop their points and have less choppy debates.  The MP introducing the debate will also get the right of reply to the minister’s response, something which they wouldn’t get in an adjournment debate in the main chamber.

    3. Its layout facilitates ‘physically close’ scrutiny

    Although the main House of Commons chamber can seem small and crowded at busy times, Westminster Hall is a much more intimate atmosphere. During its first ever debate, then Minister Peter Hain described it as ‘the first non-confrontational Chamber that Westminster has experienced in 800 years of political sparring’.  MPs are seated in a horseshoe seating area more akin to select committees, with all MPs and ministers at the same level.  This means that MPs sit much closer to the responding government minister. And the public gallery is within touching distance of them, with no screens acting as a barrier. MPs speak of being able to ‘look the minister in the eye’ and this can put ministers under considerable pressure, particularly during high profile debates.  The close proximity of the public gallery can be particularly powerful, facilitating conversations before and after debates and allowing the minister to see the faces of those impacted by government policy as they deliver their speech.

    4. It offers a kinder parliamentary culture

    The combination of a more intimate seating area and the more sensitive topics often debated there can facilitate a very different culture to the often adversarial Commons chamber. MPs and officials who participate regularly in Westminster Hall speak of a kinder etiquette, epitomised by DUP MP Jim Shannon’s regular notes to MPs to congratulate them on their debate and ministers going out of their way to thank every contributing Member in their responses. Although debates can occasionally become heated, the absence of any divisions and the location of Westminster Hall away from the limelight of the main chamber tends to inhibit overt partisanship in favour of a more collegiate atmosphere. 

    Debates in Westminster Hall can feel more remote to onlookers than those in the Commons chamber, but they offer something quite different. MPs have described it to us as ‘gold dust’ and ‘parliament’s best kept secret’, a chamber which is especially useful when campaigning on behalf of constituents. With the new Modernisation Committee hoping to look at how to make backbench debates more effective, this Parliament could bring opportunities to entrench the value of Westminster Hall in parliament’s work even more fully.

    About the authors

    Cristina Leston-Bandeira is Professor of Politics at the University of Leeds. Louise Thompson is Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of Manchester.