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Alberta is positioning itself as a North American leader in government innovation after announcing a sweeping artificial intelligence (AI) initiative that is dramatically accelerating the modernization of decades-old public sector technology.
The Government of Alberta says advanced AI tools have enabled it to accomplish in hours work that would traditionally have taken years, reducing both the time and cost required to modernize critical government systems while strengthening cyber security and improving the delivery of public services.
Over the past 18 months, Alberta's Ministry of Technology and Innovation has developed its own suite of AI-powered tools using Anthropic's Claude AI models. These AI agents were tasked with reviewing more than 466 million lines of government computer code, completing the analysis in approximately 20 hours and providing officials with the first comprehensive assessment of the province's legacy technology infrastructure.
The systems support a wide range of government services, including registries, social programs, wildfire response, and public safety.
Minister of Technology and Innovation Nate Glubish said Alberta is not only modernizing its own technology but is also making its methods available to governments around the world.
"Alberta spent decades building technology that worked for government. Now we are rebuilding it to work better for Albertans and doing it faster and for far less," Glubish said. "The tools our team built are world-class, and we are sharing them openly because every government is stuck with the same aging systems we were."
As part of that commitment, Alberta has released 21 open-source Velocity White Papers, detailing the province's approach to AI-assisted government modernization. The papers include technical guidance, software tools, simulations and implementation strategies designed to help other governments modernize their own systems.
Officials estimate that Alberta currently operates more than 1,280 applications and 3,400 collections of computer code across its 27 provincial ministries. Traditionally, replacing those aging systems would have cost an estimated $2 billion and taken more than a century to complete. By incorporating AI into the process, Alberta believes it can reduce both the time and cost by as much as 95 per cent.
In one ministry alone, AI is helping replace 185 aging systems with just 16 modern applications, simplifying operations while giving the government greater ownership and control over its digital infrastructure.
The province also says AI is strengthening cyber security efforts. Alberta's systems currently block an average of 189 million attempted digital connections every day, while automated tools help detect and prevent fraudulent activity targeting government social programs.
The initiative builds on the Alberta AI Academy, a free training platform launched in September 2025 to help public servants develop practical AI skills. More than 2,000 Alberta government employees have completed training, while the open-source platform has attracted more than 15,000 users across Canada, including participants from other provincial governments and the federal government.
Industry leaders have praised Alberta's approach.
Brian Peters, Head of North America Government Affairs at Anthropic, described Alberta's work as a practical and scalable solution to one of government's biggest technology challenges.
Google Cloud Canada Country Managing Director Farsad Nasseri said Alberta is emerging as a national leader in government transformation, while Info-Tech Research Group Managing Partner Cole Cioran called the Velocity White Papers the first comprehensive blueprint for implementing AI-powered public service modernization.
As governments around the world grapple with aging technology, rising cyber security threats and increasing public expectations for digital services, Alberta's AI-first approach could serve as a model for future government modernization efforts both in Canada and internationally.
(Source: Government of Alberta.
