Parliament's Essential Role in AI Governance

As artificial intelligence systems reshape societies worldwide, democratic institutions face a critical question: Can legislatures keep pace with technologies evolving faster than traditional policymaking processes? The answer depends not on whether parliaments possess technical expertise rivaling AI developers, but whether they can effectively exercise their fundamental democratic functions of oversight, accountability, and representation of public interests.

In 2025, at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association's conference on "The Role of Parliament in Shaping the Future of Responsible AI," AI Safety Asia (AISA) led an intensive three-hour training session designed specifically for parliamentarians across Commonwealth nations. The program, titled "Building National Capacities in AI," equipped legislators with practical frameworks to translate AI governance principles into enforceable law, establish robust oversight mechanisms, and build institutional capacity for democratic accountability in an AI-enabled era.

The training addressed a fundamental challenge facing legislators globally: AI governance conversations often remain trapped in technical abstractions or high-level ethical principles that provide little guidance for practical parliamentary action. Parliamentarians need more than awareness that AI raises important questions, they need specific legislative tools, oversight mechanisms, and institutional frameworks they can actually implement.

AISA's curriculum bridged this gap through three integrated modules combining foundational understanding with immediately actionable strategies.

Understanding AI's Societal Transformation

The opening module grounded AI governance in concrete societal impacts parliamentarians could recognize from their constituencies. Rather than beginning with technical explanations of machine learning or neural networks, the training explored how AI systems are already reshaping government services, labor markets, public discourse, and democratic processes.

Real-world examples made these transformations tangible. Estonia's Parliament deployed AI-driven transcription (HANS) to produce verbatim records, reducing stenography labor while maintaining human oversight—demonstrating how governments can harness AI efficiency without eliminating accountability. Brazil's Chamber of Deputies uses AI to classify and process citizen comments on legislation at unprecedented scale, expanding public participation while raising critical questions about algorithmic bias in categorization.

These case studies served dual purposes: they illustrated AI's transformative potential while highlighting governance challenges that parliamentary oversight must address. Participants explored how similar deployments might affect their own countries, with particular attention to risks around misinformation and implications for international relations.

The second module provided parliamentarians with frameworks for building institutional readiness beyond reactive regulation. Using Singapore's National AI Strategy 2.0 as a detailed case study, the training demonstrated how governments can systematically develop AI capabilities through coordinated policy architecture.

The final module addressed dimensions of AI governance that transcend national borders. Parliamentarians explored multilateral frameworks—OECD AI Principles, Global Partnership on AI, UN Global Digital Compact, UNESCO's Ethics Recommendation, and regional initiatives like the EU AI Act—understanding both collaborative opportunities and risks of fragmented governance approaches.

Critical attention to gender dimensions highlighted how algorithmic bias, non-consensual intimate image abuse, and gender disparities in STEM fields create specific harms requiring targeted governance responses.

The training's most immediately actionable component provided parliamentarians with specific legislative instruments and oversight mechanisms they could champion in their jurisdictions. Moving beyond general calls for "ethical AI," the curriculum detailed concrete tools:

Beyond legislative instruments, the training detailed parliamentary oversight mechanics: dedicated committees conducting hearings and reviewing AI procurement, inquiry processes with public evidence calls, mandated reporting requirements, and parliamentary data science hubs providing technical support for legislators.

From Training to Parliamentary Action

The session concluded with each participating group identifying one concrete next step they would advocate in their jurisdictions—establishing AI skills training in parliament, proposing data governance legislation, creating parliamentary AI committees, or initiating regional cooperation on oversight frameworks.

These commitments reflected the training's ultimate goal: not merely enhancing parliamentarians' AI literacy, but equipping them to exercise democratic oversight effectively. As AI systems proliferate across Commonwealth nations and beyond, the legislators trained through programs like this will determine whether these technologies remain accountable to democratic institutions and public interests, or whether they develop outside meaningful democratic control.

AISA's work with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association demonstrates that effective AI governance isn't solely a technical challenge—it's fundamentally a democratic one, requiring legislatures equipped with knowledge, tools, and confidence to fulfill their essential oversight functions in an AI-enabled age.