On August 28th, 2025, Bússola Tech convened a LegisTech Talks debate titled “Digitalisation of the Hansard – Beyond the Automatic Transcriptions”, bringing together parliamentary officials and technology practitioners to examine how digital tools and artificial intelligence are transforming the production, use, and public value of official parliamentary records.

Moderated by Luís Kimaid, Executive Director of Bússola Tech, the panel brought together Lynne Frappier, Head of Parliamentary Publications at the House of Commons of Canada; Juliana Baldoni Figueiredo, Hansard Director of the Câmara dos Deputados of Brazil; Brahma Mishra, CEO of MeetMonk; Ahto Saks, Administrative Director of the Riigikogu of Estonia; and Roberto Eberhardt, Chief Information Officer of the Ontario Legislative Assembly.

The discussion focused on how Hansard is evolving beyond automatic speech-to-text transcription toward more integrated, intelligent, and citizen-oriented parliamentary records. Participants examined the role of artificial intelligence in supporting speaker identification, topic classification, summarisation, indexing, multilingual environments, and the integration of transcripts with video, voting records, legislative documents, and other parliamentary data sources.

A central theme of the debate was the balance between automation and human editorial responsibility. While AI technologies were discussed as powerful enablers of speed, scalability, and accessibility, the panel emphasized that human oversight remains essential to ensure accuracy, neutrality, authority, and institutional trust in official parliamentary records.

The panel also addressed operational and organizational challenges, including workflow redesign, bilingual and multilingual complexity, system integration with legacy parliamentary platforms, staff training, and change management. The digitalisation of Hansard was framed not as a single technological upgrade, but as a continuous institutional transformation requiring careful governance and long-term planning.

Beyond internal parliamentary efficiency, the discussion explored how digitally enriched Hansard records can strengthen transparency and democratic engagement. By enabling faster publication, structured data, advanced search, and AI-assisted interaction with parliamentary debates, Hansard can evolve from a static archive into a dynamic knowledge resource for members of parliament, staff, researchers, journalists, and citizens.

In conclusion, the panel reaffirmed that modernising Hansard is a foundational element of parliamentary digital transformation. When guided by strong governance and editorial principles, the use of AI can enhance the speed, usability, and public value of parliamentary records, while preserving the integrity and trust that underpin democratic institutions.