From Paper to Knowledge: How AI Is Changing the Value of Parliamentary Records
An AFRIPAL webinar on the Digital Parliaments Project explored what becomes possible when parliamentary records become searchable, connected, and usable by AI
BY BEATRIZ REY
What does it mean for a parliament to know what it knows?
That question sat just beneath the surface of a recent webinar on the Digital Parliaments Project (DPP), organized by AFRIPAL, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), and POPVOX Foundation. Participants discussed parliamentary archives, government assurances, public participation, and access to information. At first glance, these may seem like very different topics. In practice, they all revolved around the same challenge: how legislatures collect, organize, preserve, and use knowledge.
As a political scientist, I was struck by how closely the discussion echoed debates that have occupied legislative scholars for decades. Legislatures have always depended on information to perform their core functions. What felt different about this conversation was the role of artificial intelligence. Many parliamentary records already exist. What AI potentially changes is the ability to search them, connect them, and learn from them at a scale that would have been unimaginable only a few years ago.
That perspective made the webinar particularly interesting. While the event served as an introduction to the Digital Parliaments Project — a new effort to help legislatures transform physical parliamentary records into searchable, structured digital data — it also offered a glimpse of how African parliaments are beginning to think about the opportunities and challenges that emerge once those records become usable by AI systems.
Why Digitization Matters
In the parliamentary context, digitization refers to converting physical records like Hansards, bills, committee reports, legislative archives, and other parliamentary documents into digital formats for storage, search, and analysis. While that process is not new, the rise of artificial intelligence has fundamentally changed its potential value.
AI systems can only work with the information available to them. Parliamentary records that remain scattered across paper archives, PDFs, or disconnected databases are difficult for both people and machines to use. Digitization, therefore, is not simply about preserving records. It is what makes more advanced forms of search, analysis, and knowledge retrieval possible.
It was at this point that Franklin De Vrieze and Charlotte Egan of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) kept returning throughout the discussion. For both, the significance of digital transformation lies not in the technology itself, but in what it allows parliaments to do.
De Vrieze argued that making parliamentary information more accessible “strengthens public trust and enables more and better informed public debate,” adding that digitization effectively “lowers the cost of transparency.” Egan likewise cautioned that “lack of tech is often not the problem, and tech alone is not going to provide the solution.” Their comments served as a useful reminder that while AI may create new ways of interacting with parliamentary information, the ultimate goal remains improving transparency, accountability, and public engagement.
Building the Foundations
If WFD’s contribution focused on why digital transformation matters, POPVOX Foundation’s presentation focused on a more practical question: what needs to happen before AI can become genuinely useful in parliamentary settings?
Managing Director Aubrey Wilson introduced the Digital Parliaments Project (DPP), an initiative that emerged from conversations with parliamentary officials in the Caribbean who identified a common challenge: the lack of standardized, searchable parliamentary data. While legislatures differed significantly in size, capacity, and technological maturity, many faced similar obstacles in preserving records, organizing information, and making parliamentary data accessible and usable.
The project’s response has been to start with the data itself. Through a platform called ParlLink, parliamentary documents can be converted into structured, searchable information, allowing users to retrieve information through natural-language queries and build a foundation for future digital services. Wilson described this process not simply as scanning documents, but as creating the metadata and information architecture necessary for AI-powered search, research, and public-facing parliamentary websites.
The presentation also emphasized that technology adoption is not a one-size-fits-all process. Rather than deploying a finished product, the Digital Parliaments Project is being developed alongside participating legislatures, with new features shaped by the needs and priorities of parliamentary staff.
Engaging with the Audience
The most interesting part of the webinar came during the discussion led by Dr. Hannah Muzee of AFRIPAL. Participants quickly moved beyond questions about digitization itself and began exploring what might become possible once parliamentary information was searchable, connected, and accessible through AI-powered tools.
Several interventions focused on institutional memory. Participants wanted to know whether parliamentary systems could digitize and search Hansards dating back many years, track legislation throughout the legislative process, and even analyze public participation across different stages of lawmaking. Underlying these exchanges was a common concern: how can parliaments make better use of the information they already possess?
Others were interested in how these tools might strengthen parliamentary oversight. One attendee asked whether AI could help committees identify and track government assurances by cross-referencing speeches, parliamentary papers, and official documents. The example illustrated the shift at the heart of the discussion: from simply storing information to actively connecting and analyzing it.
But not every intervention focused on efficiency. One participant raised concerns about inclusion, asking whether legislatures should ever delay or limit digital tools if unequal access to internet connectivity, electricity, or digital literacy risked widening participation gaps. The exchange served as a reminder that digital transformation can create new challenges alongside new opportunities.
Participants also raised concerns about privacy safeguards, cybersecurity, data ownership, AI accuracy, and multilingual parliamentary environments. Together, these reflections highlighted an important reality: if AI expands what parliaments can do with information, it also raises new questions about trust, governance, and institutional responsibility.
Those conversations are likely to continue over the next year. Cofounder and Executive Director Marci Harris noted that POPVOX Foundation will be working to expand the Digital Parliaments Project to Africa over the coming months and expressed hope that there would be lots to announce at AFRIPAL 2027 in Botswana.
Taken together, the discussion revealed that participants were not all starting from the same place, nor were they looking for the same solutions. Yet many were grappling with a common challenge: how to transform decades of parliamentary records into usable knowledge. AFRIPAL 2027 should provide an opportunity to continue those conversations and to learn how different legislatures are approaching similar challenges in different contexts.
Modern Parliament (“ModParl”) is a newsletter from POPVOX Foundation that provides insights into the evolution of legislative institutions worldwide. Learn more and subscribe at modparl.substack.com.
