Parliament to adopt AI to produce Hansard reports

Parliament has announced plans to introduce Artificial Intelligence (AI) to reduce the time taken to produce Hansard reports.

The move will reduce by half the time taken to produce the reports while making them accurate, easy to access and transcribe.

This emerged during the 6th Hansard Association of Kenya (HAK) Annual Conference in Sawela Lodge, Naivasha which brought together Hansard reporters from Parliament and all the 47 county assemblies.

During the conference it emerged that county assemblies were poorly equipped and understaffed, a move that was affecting the production of the Hansard reports.

National Assembly Deputy Clerk Serah Kioko said there is need to embrace AI in parliamentary reporting.

Kioko explained that the use of technology would reduce the time taken to produce Hansard.

“AI is here with us and we cannot ignore but embrace it as we move to reduce the time taken to produce these reports that are very crucial,” she said.

Addressing the Press on the sidelines of the five-day workshop, the Deputy Clerk noted that institutions like the Judiciary and the National Land Commission rely a lot on the Hansard reports.

“Parliament is keenly looking at the introduction of Artificial Intelligence in its reporting and this will not in any way affect the workforce,” she said.

Denis Mutui, an official of the Society of Clerks at the Table in Kenyan Legislatures decried the lack of equipment and personnel in many county assemblies.

Mutui said a decade after devolution came into force, counties had not invested in Hansard reporting in assemblies due to financial constraints which has affected service delivery.

He challenged counties to invest in live-streaming so that the public can get a chance to hear elected leaders’ articulate issues in assemblies.

“Despite the financial constraints, counties should invest in recording equipment and personnel as this will assist in the production of better Hansard reports,” he said.

HAK President George Wanyoko said that plans were underway to register the association so that it can be anchored in law to attract funding.

Res Ndilai said they were keen to embrace AI in producing Hansard reports to ease their work.