OTTAWA — A lot of Canadians turning to chatbots for election information don’t always get accurate responses, a Parliamentary committee heard today.

McGill University academics have been tracking chatbot activity, including during the recent Quebec election.

Aengus Bridgman, a McGill political scientist who studies social media, says an estimated 40 per cent of Quebec voters turned to AI chatbots for answers.

But because most Quebec news outlets blocked chatbots from accessing their content, he says, those voters couldn’t obtain the most accurate and up-to-date information.

Taylor Owen, associate professor in the Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill, says researchers found that in the last three weeks of the election, 39 per cent of voting advice provided by ChatGPT came from an error-filled hobby website built by AI.

Owen says that while there were no nefarious motives involved, it’s likely a large number of people received false information about the election.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2026.

Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press