One-fifth of MPs’ speeches in the House of Commons are written with AI help, analysis finds

One-fifth of MPs’ speeches in the House of Commons are written with AI help, analysis finds MARIE WOOLF PUBLISHED 1 HOUR AGO COMMENTS SHARE SAVE FOR LATER Listen to this article Learn more about audio Log in or create a free account to listen to this article. One-fifth of the words spoken in the House of Commons by MPs in the past year were written with the help of AI, an analysis by the Economist magazine has found. The study using Pangram, a tool for detecting text written by artificial intelligence, found that Canadian MPs were the second-highest users of AI to write speeches in parliamentary debates, after Australia. Twenty per cent of verbal contributions by Canadian MPs were written with the help of AI compared with 21 per cent for Australian MPs, according to the Economist analysis in this week’s edition. Ottawa’s use was more prevalent than among elected representatives in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, the U.S. and New Zealand. The study, which analyzed speeches made in the year since September, 2025, in selected English-speaking legislatures, found that Canadian MPs used AI tools to craft speeches, ask and reply to questions and make other verbal interventions. The use of AI is not prohibited under parliamentary rules in Ottawa and the Speaker of the House of Commons declined to comment on its prolific use. Canada signs international statement on AI safety, joining calls for stronger oversight But former NDP MP Charlie Angus, who was known for his fiery oratory, said “on first glance it just shows how mediocre we have become in that we have to ask Claude or ChatGPT what they think first.” “Canadian MPs are asking Claude how to ask a dumb 30-second question to the minister, and how to get their zingers on tax policy.” But MPs and ministers are failing to address the dangers potentially posed by AI to humanity, he said. Mr. Angus, who has been writing articles about the potential threats posed by superintelligent AI, said “red lights are flashing everywhere about threats posed by AI” and “yet you have dead silence in the Canadian Parliament” about the risks posed. Former NDP MP Kennedy Stewart, who is now an associate professor at Simon Fraser University’s School of Public Policy, said he was not worried by the prolific use of AI by Canadian MPs. Mr. Stewart, who studies AI use in government, said Canadian MPs seemed far more bound to talking points issued by party managers than MPs in other parliaments. From doomsday warnings…