Integrating Artificial Intelligence into Parliamentary Research Services: The Research Service of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine as a Case Study

Abstract

This article examines how artificial intelligence (AI) can be incorporated into parliamentary research services while preserving professional responsibility, information security and democratic accountability. Using the Research Service of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine as the principal case, the study combines doctrinal and documentary analysis with a structured comparison of recent parliamentary practices in Germany, Canada, Switzerland, Spain, Indonesia and Bahrain. The comparative framework is derived from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Guidelines for AI in Parliaments and the Maturity Framework for AI in Parliaments and focuses on governance, technical capability, organisational capability and democratic impact. The analysis shows that effective parliamentary AI adoption depends less on the acquisition of individual tools than on institutional rules, reliable data, human oversight, staff competence, controlled experimentation and auditable workflows. The Ukrainian case demonstrates an emerging governance model in which external AI systems are treated as auxiliary instruments for processing publicly available information, while professional verification, confidentiality requirements and restrictions on autonomous action remain central. Four vectors of incorporation are identified: internal regulation of AI use; development and dissemination of institutional guidance; comparative research on AI regulation and applications; and AI-literacy training for parliamentarians, advisers and parliamentary staff. The article concludes that sustainable AI adoption in parliamentary research services requires a staged, risk-based and human-centred approach in which technological efficiency remains subordinate to analytical integrity, parliamentary autonomy and public trust.