Date: October 3, 2026
Reporter: Emilly Jordan
As Alberta prepares to vote on 10 referendum questions later this month, researchers and political experts are examining the province’s information environment as a potential case study in how artificial intelligence and social media can affect the way voters obtain and assess political information.
The referendum is scheduled for October 19 and includes questions on constitutional reform, immigration and social programs, as well as a final question asking Albertans whether the province should remain part of Canada or whether the Alberta government should begin the legal process required to hold a binding referendum on separation. Elections Alberta confirms that questions one through nine are non-binding yes-or-no questions, while question 10 presents voters with two choices and is also non-binding.
A report from the Media Ecosystem Observatory has examined how artificial intelligence tools, online influencers and social media are shaping the discussion surrounding Alberta separation. Researchers found that AI systems can provide different answers to the same questions depending on when they are asked, raising concerns about the reliability of using generative AI as a source of political information.
Aengus Bridgman, director of the Media Ecosystem Observatory, said researchers tested tools including Google AI Overview and OpenAI’s ChatGPT by asking questions about the possible economic consequences of an independent Alberta, including whether taxes or pensions would change and whether separation would be financially advantageous.
The responses sometimes changed within a matter of hours. Bridgman said the changes were not necessarily caused by any change in the underlying facts but by the way AI systems use changing datasets to generate responses.
The report describes the Alberta referendum as an opportunity to examine how democratic debates are changing as voters increasingly encounter political information through social media personalities and AI-powered search and chatbot services.
“Year over year, online influencers have been accumulating relevance and engagement at the expense of news media and elected officials,” the report said.
Bridgman said social media and AI have significantly expanded the discussion surrounding Alberta’s separation debate. He also said the technologies can make it more difficult to monitor the information environment surrounding an election or referendum.
The report identified 114 influential accounts discussing the referendum across five social-media platforms. It found that 66 of those accounts supported Alberta independence, while 29 supported remaining in Canada, with the remainder taking neither position. The researchers said independence-related accounts generated a substantially larger share of engagement online than accounts advocating for Alberta to remain in Canada.
The researchers cautioned, however, that online engagement does not necessarily represent the views of the broader Alberta population.
The report also examined material originating outside Canada. It found an increase in content about Alberta separation produced in other countries, including the United States. Bridgman said the researchers had not found evidence of a covert, coordinated or disproportionate foreign campaign designed to influence separation sentiment, although foreign-produced content was present in the online information environment. The report said financial incentives appeared to be one factor behind some of that activity, as creators could generate substantial audiences and advertising revenue from highly engaging political content.
Artificial intelligence is also being used directly to create political material. Researchers found an increase in AI-generated imagery among posts related to Alberta independence, particularly on social-media platforms. The study found that the proportion of AI-generated images among pro-independence posts on X had increased substantially since January 2025.
University of Alberta political science professor Blair Attard-Frost said the growing use of AI in political discussions raises concerns about voters receiving incomplete or inaccurate information. She argued that the expansion of AI-powered search and content-generation tools requires renewed attention to media literacy.
Attard-Frost said voters could encounter information that is incomplete, inaccurate, false or misleading when attempting to understand the potential consequences of constitutional change or separation.
Elections Alberta has also issued a warning about relying on AI systems for election information. The agency says AI-powered chatbots and search assistants are increasingly being used to find and summarize information online, but they are not official election-information sources and can cite incorrect or unverified material. Elections Alberta recommends checking important information against trusted official sources.
The agency says AI can still be useful for explaining electoral legislation, providing general information about how elections operate and summarizing publicly available information, provided users verify important details independently.
OpenAI and Google did not respond to requests for comment on the Media Ecosystem Observatory report, according to The Canadian Press. An OpenAI spokesperson instead referred to a May company publication describing efforts to support accurate information during elections and other major votes.
The Alberta government has also taken steps to communicate directly with voters ahead of the referendum. Premier Danielle Smith said the government had relied on traditional media, advertising and mailed information booklets to explain the 10 questions.
Smith said the government was trying to ensure Albertans understood the questions and their context.
Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi has criticized the government's referendum information campaign, arguing that some of the material presents information without sufficient context. His criticism is a political claim about the government's communications and has been disputed by the government.
The debate illustrates a broader challenge facing voters as political campaigns and public discussions increasingly move across traditional news organizations, social-media platforms and AI-powered information services.
For Elections Alberta, the referendum also represents a test of how voters navigate an information environment in which AI-generated answers can change, online influencers can attract large audiences and political content can be produced and distributed rapidly.
The referendum is set for October 19, with Elections Alberta serving as the official source for voting information and the wording of the questions on the ballot.