Edmonton Journal has reported:

Thousands of Albertans have turned to artificial intelligence platforms to learn about referendum topics as advance voting gets underway, according to Google Trends data cited by NorQuest College. More than 20,000 people searched the topics in the past seven days, and NorQuest expects that figure to rise over the coming week.

Advance voting began Tuesday and continues through Saturday. The final day to vote in the referendum is Monday, Oct. 19. The first nine questions, which concern immigration and the Constitution, have drawn criticism from Albertans and experts over their complexity.

Stephanie Husby, NorQuest College’s chair of science and technology, said AI can be useful when people use it strategically to better understand the referendum questions. She urged users to check and verify responses generated by AI platforms.

“I think that’s what we’re seeing in the Google Trends is people are using it, they are searching for it, and they’re getting AI responses back,” Husby said.

She advised users to understand how AI works and treat it as predictive, with its outputs requiring verification. Husby said people can use it to explore a topic, test their positions and ask it to disagree with or challenge their perspective.

“My stance would be really making sure that people are using (AI) appropriately, that they understand how it works, that it’s predictive, and that it should be verified, and to use it more for asking to explore the topic, to challenge positions, to give it the instructions to disagree and to challenge where you’re coming from.”

Husby said most AI tools provide links to support their answers without being asked, giving users a way to check the information. People can also request additional sources from the tools.

For lengthy referendum questions, she suggested asking AI to simplify the wording. Users could also request general information about what voting yes or no on a topic would mean, she said, to help clarify the questions.

“AI isn’t a search engine, and so it’s important to actually engage with it more than that, and to give it more information,” Husby said.

She recommended asking the tool for more context, directing it to respond as an expert or as a fair-minded political opponent, and using it conversationally instead of as a search engine. That approach may yield more accurate information, she said, while reiterating that all AI-generated information should be verified.

Husby’s comments come as Albertans begin casting advance ballots on the referendum, with the vote closing Oct. 19.