Parliaments are increasingly relying on digital tools and services. The spread of artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to further accelerate this trend and play an important role in the digital transformation of parliaments from paper-based organizations into data-driven institutions, challenging previous paradigms. For this reason, an international group of parliamentary academics and experts developed guidelines for AI in parliaments over a period of eight months, from September 2023 to April 2024, building on previous work in this area. They are intended to prepare for the introduction and use of AI in parliamentary work.

The guidelines are relevant for local, regional, national and supranational parliaments in a multi-level governance context. A holistic approach was taken during the development process. The guidelines include statements on ethics, data protection, information security, supervision, system design and education. They deal with specific aspects of the use of AI in parliaments, including comments on the scope, examples and factors that are crucial for successful implementation. This makes them useful for addressing current issues as well as assessing more theoretical questions, such as the impact of AI on legislation.

The guidelines, which were translated into German, will be presented in a contribution/presentation.