How should AI be used and regulated in NWT elections?

Nicholas Joldersma says when he saw some candidates in Yellowknife’s upcoming election using generative artificial intelligence content, he felt compelled to say something.

The Yellowknife resident wrote a Facebook post last month outlining his concerns with GenAI in political campaigns, ranging from the ownership of AI companies to the theft of original work and AI’s impacts on the environment, economy and critical thinking.

“When we look at politics, especially municipal politics, this is the first interaction point between … us and those who are governing,” he told Cabin Radio. “If those individuals are using things that are by definition artificial, then we are not really connecting to them. There’s no community.”

Joldersma said he wanted to make a strong statement to start a hard conversation on the issue.

This month’s municipal election is one of the first in the NWT since GenAI chatbots and platforms like ChatGPT have become readily accessible and widely used.

There are currently no rules at either the territorial or municipal level explicitly governing how candidates and others can use AI during elections.

Roberta Marie Campbell is one of several candidates running for city council who have used AI in their campaigns.

Campbell said when she announced her candidacy, she was excited and wanted to make campaign materials right away. However, she said, she had difficulty using her hands at the time due to nerve damage and did not have the budget to pay another artist or designer. She said ChatGPT’s voice function allowed her to make the poster she envisioned.

After a resident expressed concern, Campbell said she committed to not using AI-generated images in her campaign and made new posters once she was able.

“My dad has always instilled in me that you listen, that you’re there for the people and you listen to what they want. The majority of the people I was listening to were saying, ‘please don’t use AI,'” she said.

Campbell said it can be unclear which AI tools others consider acceptable as people often use many types of traditional and generative AI every day. She said while there are negative uses of AI, such as the creation of deepfakes, it can be a helpful tool when conducting research, editing text or creating charts and graphs.

As a retired nurse, she said having a code of ethics is important. She said she would not use AI to write for her and would make sure to verify facts contained within statements generated by AI.

“To me, it’s about your integrity and where you draw the line with what you’re going to do,” she said.

Outgoing Yellowknife councillor Tom McLennan said he generally dislikes AI for creative uses and campaigns are a “great opportunity” for candidates to hire a local artist or designer, work with a friend or learn a new skill like photo editing. In the municipal context, he believes using AI to help with door knocking or analyzing political data is not that useful.

“I think the key is just getting out and talking to people, understanding what the issues are and then understanding how the city can impact those issues and what ideas you have to do that,” he said.

McLennan said AI can be a useful tool for research, but that should only be a starting point. During the outgoing council’s last meeting, he also highlighted the potential for the municipality to use AI tools to analyze existing documents rather than commission more costly studies and plans.

Ultimately, McLennan said, it is up to individuals to decide if or how they want to use AI. If candidates choose to do so, he said, they should be transparent about how and why they are using it.

Risks and benefits

Yellowknife is not the only jurisdiction in Canada discussing how AI should be used and regulated in elections and the political sphere as candidates and political parties experiment with AI tools.

This year, for example, a candidate in Sudbury, Ontario’s election gained attention for using AI campaign posters while there are ongoing concerns about how AI-generated content could impact Alberta’s upcoming referendum.

The Conservative Party of Canada released a political ad this summer featuring AI-generated footage, and misleading AI-generated content in the 2025 federal election had millions of views.

In 2023, a candidate in Toronto’s election received flak for publishing a platform with AI-generated images, including a woman with three arms, while the Alberta Party shared an endorsement video featuring an AI-generated avatar.

There are also instances in which proponents say AI strengthened democracies. During Pakistan’s 2024 election, for example, it helped a candidate to campaign while imprisoned.

Nathalie Smuha is an assistant professor of law at the University of Toronto who researches the impact of digital technologies on democracy.

She said AI tools can democratize political campaigning, giving the example that AI could help an independent candidate without access to a big party budget and communications team create campaign materials. She said AI tools can also be an effective way for politicians and citizens to express themselves and their ideas.

AI can also have detrimental impacts on democracy, Smuha said, as deepfakes can make it difficult for people to identify and agree on what is real.

“That is a huge problem because if you don’t have a common base of facts that you can discuss as a democracy, you talk past each other and you can no longer have a democratic deliberation of what you ought to do,” she said.

Smuha said it is best practice to disclose when content is AI-generated, particularly if it depicts events or people that are not real.

Andrea Lawlor is an associate professor of political science and public policy at McMaster University who studies election law.

She said many Canadian voters are skeptical of AI use in elections as it is a new and unregulated technology.

“We are seeing a largely unregulated set of elections unfold in front of us as it relates to this type of digital technology,” she said, adding the use of AI in elections has forced citizens to become more vigilant.

Lawlor said while misinformation is not a new issue, AI can amplify it, accelerate its distribution and makes it look more authentic.

She said there is a patchwork of AI election regulation at the federal and provincial levels, with British Columbia and Manitoba being among the more forward-thinking jurisdictions. It is important to balance regulation with protecting free expression, she said, noting that while AI can be challenging to regulate, there are solutions.

“The solution probably isn’t outright prohibition because that becomes impossible to monitor or enforce,” she said. “At the same time, it’s wrong to think that self-regulation in this area is going to lead to anything resembling a fair and democratic election process.”

Chris Tenove, an instructor at the University of British Columbia and assistant director of the Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions, said he doesn’t expect AI to result in big election swings but it may “shape things on the margins.” He said it can also cause “information system pollution,” or the contamination of the information environment with distracting, misleading or low quality content.

Suzie Dunn, an assistant law professor at Dalhousie University and interim director of the Law and Technology Institute, said even the kind of AI someone chooses to use can say something about their campaign.

“I think the choice of the AI system that’s being used can also speak a little bit to the values of a particular politician,” she said.

Elections NWT developing regulations, GNWT is not

Federally, Parliament passed changes to the Canada Elections Act earlier this year prohibiting the creation of intentionally misleading deepfakes of elections officials or candidates, save for the purpose of parody or satire.

The bill stopped short of requiring transparency markers whenever campaign communications involve AI content, as recommended by Canada’s chief electoral officer.

In the NWT, municipal elections are largely governed by the territorial Local Authorities Elections Act.

Jay Boast, a spokesperson for the territorial Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, said the department is “aware of the broader discussion about the use of AI in elections across Canada” and elsewhere. Boast said the issue “may be considered” in a future review of the act, but there are currently no plans to update it.

Boast said while the act does not specifically regulate AI use in municipal elections – nor the distribution of misinformation or disinformation – it does set out rules on campaign activities around voting stations and prohibits voter intimidation, vote buying and ballot interference.

At the territorial level, NWT chief electoral officer Stephen Dunbar said Elections NWT is working on new legislation that includes provisions on AI use.

He said those include requiring disclosure if AI is used to generate campaign advertising, greater restrictions on the impersonation of election officials and candidates, and financial penalties for social media companies if they continue to host false advertising after being directed to stop by the chief electoral officer.

Dunbar said internally, Elections NWT is also creating an AI policy ahead of the 2027 territorial election.

Once in place, he said, the policy will prohibit the use of AI to analyze confidential or sensitive data, automate election processes or workflows, or impersonate another person or entity.

Dunbar said Elections NWT is considering allowing AI use to summarize and research publicly available material and reports, compose non-sensitive correspondence, edit public materials, and create infographics or charts.

He said any materials that use AI will be reviewed and approved by humans.