AI use suspected as Aargau parliament faces record motions and costs

More than 250 parliamentary motions have been submitted to the Aargau cantonal parliament this year, a record, with members suspecting that artificial intelligence is helping drive the increase. SRF reports that the longer submissions are adding to the workload and costs.

Members told SRF that AI can make it easier to draft motions and can lengthen them. Some acknowledged using it to revise texts or conduct research, while saying they review and question its output themselves.

SP parliamentarian Colette Basler said motions now contain more questions on individual topics and that their quality appears to be declining. Silvan Hilfiker, who leads the FDP parliamentary group, has also warned colleagues about AI use.

The growing volume and length of submissions mean more work for the administration and parliamentarians, Hilfiker said. Responding to motions cost about 200,000 francs a year a few years ago; in recent years, the annual bill has been well over 300,000 francs. Additional parliamentary sessions also add costs.

Parliament president Urs Plüss of the EVP estimates that AI may have been involved in three quarters of the motions. He based the estimate on checks using AI tools, but said the results were not conclusive. When a motion raised suspicions, the tools often put the likelihood of AI involvement at about 80 percent, he said.

Fabrizio Gilardi, a professor of policy analysis at the University of Zurich, said AI use was not inherently problematic. Its impact depends on whether a text is generated without human input or drafted in collaboration with AI, he said.

No measures have been adopted to address the increase. Plüss said one possible option would be to stop scheduling certain motions for public debate, although he said the parliament would prefer not to do so. Some politicians also argued that media coverage of the number of motions could encourage members to submit more.