AI chatbots give Albertans shifting answers on separation ahead of Oct. 19 vote, study finds

Ask an artificial intelligence chatbot whether taxes would rise in an independent Alberta, and the answer may depend on when you ask. Aengus Bridgman, director of the Media Ecosystem Observatory, told The Canadian Press in a report published Oct. 3 that Google AI Overview and ChatGPT might say yes one moment and no a few hours later. "(It's) not because any of the underlying reality has changed," he said.

The findings come from a September report on Alberta's online referendum debate, published on the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy's website, which tracks how AI tools and social media are shaping the conversation ahead of the Oct. 19 vote. The researchers found that the two AI tools produce unpredictable and conflicting answers about half the time when asked about the possible outcomes of Alberta leaving Canada. "We asked, 'Will my taxes go up?' 'Will my pension go up?' 'Is this fiscally advantageous to me?'" Bridgman said.

The report also documents how quickly AI-generated imagery has become a campaign tool. The share of AI images in pro-independence posts on X has grown 3.5-fold since January 2025, the authors found, and such images now approach a third of shared pictures in some Facebook groups. Many influencers are using AI to produce content, according to the study.

Those influencers dominate the debate. The researchers identified 114 accounts that captured roughly half of all engagement on five platforms over 20 months. Of those, 66 argue for an independent Alberta and 29 for remaining in Canada, and pro-independence accounts draw about 80 per cent of engagement on relevant posts compared with about 10 per cent for remain voices. That is the inverse of public opinion: the project's summary page notes polling shows roughly two-thirds of Albertans would vote to stay. "We now have a case study of what a democratic vote looks like squarely in the influencer era," the report says.

On foreign meddling, the picture is more muted. The study found an uptick in Alberta separation content produced in other countries, including the United States, but Bridgman said there is not enough evidence of foreign interference, and that foreign actors appear to be producing the content largely for profit. The report says it found no evidence of a covert, co-ordinated campaign by the U.S. or Russia, though overt, attributable American engagement rose sharply in late August amid the Canada-U.S. trade war.

Elections Alberta has issued its own caution, saying on its website that AI-powered chatbots and search engines "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 report, CP said, though an OpenAI spokesperson pointed to a May blog post outlining the company's election safeguards.

Blair Attard-Frost, a University of Alberta political science professor and AI chair with the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, said the trend calls for a new wave of media literacy, much like the campaigns that followed the rise of search engines in the early 2000s. "These are really deceptive products," she said. "They're marketed as intelligent tools." She warned that many voters "could be getting incomplete, inaccurate, false or misleading information about the potential consequences of separatism."

The information fight is also playing out offline. Premier Danielle Smith said her government has turned to traditional media, launching an ad campaign and mailing booklets that explain the 10 referendum questions, the last of which asks about separation. Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi argued the booklet steers voters on the first nine questions with uncontextualized figures, calling it "$4 million worth of taxpayer-funded garbage."

For voters using AI tools to research the referendum, Elections Alberta's warning points to a simple habit: check any chatbot answer against official sources before relying on it. The report adds a sobering data point for the weeks ahead, finding that only 59 per cent of Albertans are confident Elections Alberta will run the vote fairly.