Alberta government plans to use AI to draft whisky legislation

What it means to be an Alberta whisky will soon be defined by new legislation and a first-of-its-kind author. AI will write the bill's draft.

Alberta’s provincial government will use artificial intelligence (AI) technology to draft a forthcoming piece of legislation.

Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Dale Nally says AI will take the reins for the Alberta Whisky Act.

According to an autumn mandate letter, the act will define the standards and requirements for a product to be legally labeled as “Alberta whisky.”

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Nally says he believes the tech is a great way to kickstart his bill — which, compared to other bills, is low stakes.

“It doesn’t involve any hearts or lungs,” he told CTV News on Tuesday. “And if [AI] gets it wrong, we can use human legislative writers that can correct it.”

That last bit is key.

While the province will let the robots take a swing at compiling pertinent Alberta whisky qualities — ingredients, characteristics and taste, for example — there will be some guardrails to ensure everything is triple checked.

The justice minister will likely have the final proofread.

And, no, it’s not ChatGPT that will be utilized.

“I’m not aware of a jurisdiction in Canada that is using AI to write legislation, so it only makes sense that we go there first because we’re leaders in tech and innovation,” Nally said.

His team says Alberta’s distiller industry will play a big role in the project.

“I’m actually really excited about the utilization of artificial intelligence in the drafting of this act,” Burwood Distillery’s Jordan Ramey said. “Right now, we’re producing some of the world’s highest-quality whisky, but we’re not telling that story on an international level.”

A sign of the times?

Edmonton’s Sam Jenkins works for software company Punchcard Systems and says he’ll be watching the draft legislation closely.

“The opportunity here is how do we produce more effective legislation that takes into account big sets of data?” he said.

“AI can help provide tools for our partners in legislatures and in parliament to be able to hopefully meet those needs faster, but failure is also an option here.” “Failure can look like inconsistent wording, misaligned definitions with existing statutes or language that introduces loopholes that may not be intended.”

That’s why Jenkins says the final product will still need to have a human touch.

And if it goes according to plan?

“This is a moment where expectations are going to be set around what AI systems are going to be used for, and how they can be used by lawmakers to be able to shape Canadian precedent.”

Expect to see the Alberta Whisky Act tabled in 2026.