Artificial intelligence chatbots and search tools can give different answers within hours to questions about the financial consequences of an independent Alberta, raising concerns about the information voters may encounter before the province’s Oct. 19 referendum. A report from the Ontario-based Media Ecosystem Observatory describes Alberta’s vote as a case study in how AI and online influencers could shape where people get political news and how future elections unfold.

Aengus Bridgman, the observatory’s director, said a chatbot or search engine might say one day that taxes would rise in an independent Alberta, then answer no a few hours later. Google AI Overview and OpenAI’s ChatGPT can change their responses as the data used to predict them changes. “(It’s) not because any of the underlying reality has changed,” Bridgman said.

The report, released last month, tested questions about what independence might mean for Albertans. “We asked, ‘Will my taxes go up?’ ‘Will my pension go up?’ ‘Is this fiscally advantageous to me?’” Bridgman said. The report follows how AI technologies are being used in online discussion ahead of the referendum.

Albertans will vote on 10 questions, including whether they want to stay in Canada or hold a second, binding referendum on leaving Confederation. The report says the vote offers a case study of AI’s possible influence on future elections, particularly as people decide where to get news. It observes that online influencers have gained relevance and engagement year over year at the expense of news media and elected officials, and describes Alberta as a democratic vote taking place in the influencer era.

Bridgman said social media and AI have greatly expanded public debate about separation. “It’s good in terms of a lively democracy.” He also said the technologies have made it more difficult to track the referendum and elections more broadly, invoking the principle that poor input can produce poor output.

Elections Alberta says on its website that people increasingly use AI-powered chatbots and search engines to locate and summarize online information. The agency cautions: “They are not official sources of election information and frequently cite incorrect information sources.” OpenAI and Google did not respond to requests for comment on the Media Ecosystem Observatory report.

OpenAI spokesperson Nate Evans shared a blog post the company published in May about technologies it has partnered with to help its chatbot provide accurate information during votes. The post said: “This year is the world’s second major election year since generative AI became widely available, and we’re continuing to build on the foundation we laid in 2024 to help protect elections in countries and territories around the world.”

The observatory’s study also recorded an increase in content about Alberta separation produced outside Canada, including in the United States. Bridgman said there was not enough evidence to establish foreign interference. The report says foreign actors are producing content largely to make money, and that millions of views suggest they are profiting from it.

The study found that pro-separation influencers dominate online discussion, even though polls show a large majority of Albertans would vote to remain in Canada. Bridgman said the reason there are more pro-separation social media accounts than federalist accounts is unclear. “My attribution of this is generally because these (separatist) voices have not felt represented in more traditional media.”

Many influencers are also using AI to produce content, according to the report. Blair Attard-Frost, a University of Alberta political science professor and AI chair with the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, said the growth of AI in the separation debate concerns her. She noted that information campaigns about media literacy emerged when search engines became popular in the early 2000s, and said AI’s expansion calls for a new wave of media literacy because of how large technology companies market their search engines and services.

“These are really deceptive products,” Attard-Frost said. “They’re marketed as intelligent tools.” She said she will watch for possible effects of current technologies on the referendum result and the future of Alberta’s separation movement. “A lot of people could be getting incomplete, inaccurate, false or misleading information about the potential consequences of separatism, and using that information to make decisions about how to vote,” she said.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith was asked this week whether she was concerned AI-generated misinformation could sway votes. She said her government had turned to traditional media to communicate information, and recently launched an advertising campaign and mailed booklets explaining the 10 referendum questions. The first nine ask whether the government should have more authority to pursue constitutional reform and impose limitations and financial guardrails around some newcomers. The 10th concerns separation.

“We are making sure that Albertans know exactly what the questions are and some of the context for them,” Smith said Monday. On Friday, Alberta Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi accused Smith’s United Conservative Party government of contributing to misinformation. He cited the booklets delivered to homes that week, saying the government was putting its thumb on the scale.

Nenshi said the booklet presents uncontextualized numbers and information in support of giving the government a mandate on the first nine questions, while saying nothing about the 10th. As an example, he said it claims temporary residents cost Alberta taxpayers $1 billion a year in health care and education, without identifying the source of the figure or saying that temporary workers must have a job to remain in the province and also pay taxes.

“For the first nine questions, (Smith) tells you how to vote,” Nenshi said. “That doesn’t feel like direct democracy to me. It feels like propaganda. “This (booklet) is garbage - $4 million worth of taxpayer-funded garbage.” The Canadian Press report was first published Oct. 3, 2026, by Fakiha Baig.

Based on reporting by CTV News Edmonton and Global News Edmonton.