Ask a dozen Albertans why western separatism is having such a moment right now, and you’ll get back a smattering of answers; everything from western alienation to anger over equalization payments and oil and gas development to a grudge match between some Albertans and the country’s Laurentian elites.
But what if there’s another reason that Alberta’s brand of separatism seems to be getting so much attention these days? One that might not have much to do with Albertans, at all.
“We are in an arms race with malicious actors targeting Canada, but we don’t have an AI system to combat it with.”
Cipher AI is a Canadian startup based jointly out of Edmonton and Regina. A spinout of the University of Regina’s Centre for Artificial Intelligence, Data, and Conflict (CAIDAC), the company is using AI to track, quantify, and ultimately combat, the online disinformation and foreign influence its founders say are inflaming the conversation around Alberta’s modern-day separatist movement.
Disinformation, as defined by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), is the deliberate dissemination of false or misleading information, intended to deceive or manipulate, often with specific goals in mind. It is often a key component of efforts from foreign states or actors to influence public opinion or amplify tense domestic issues.
Cipher markets its AI platform as a tool, rather than a replacement for humans and institutions already doing the work of monitoring disinformation. Its AI scours the internet and with the help of proprietary large language models (LLMs) ingests and analyzes huge volumes of digital information. The platform uses pattern recognition to identify suspicious and emerging narratives, as well as signs of coordination behind those narratives. It can then track the evolution of disinformation narratives over time, creating a roadmap of what disinformation is being amplified, where, when, and in what context. That data is then turned into an assessment that can be reviewed and used by clients.
Cipher’s AI relies on a “human-in-the-loop” system that leverages the expertise of vetted professionals like Marcus Kolga, who runs the watchdog organization Disinfowatch, to inform its algorithm and review its output.
Fighting AI with AI
Disinformation has long played a role in geopolitics, but social media turbocharged its reach, allowing it to circumvent institutional, fact-checked sources of information. Now, strides in AI technology have increased its reach and specificity, further blurring the lines between credible and non-credible information, according to Cipher co-founder Brian McQuinn.
“It’s really a brand new world we are finding ourselves in,” McQuinn, who is also an associate professor at the University of Regina and a co-director of CAIDAC, said. “[They’re] able to do things they weren’t able to do six months ago … We are in an arms race with malicious actors targeting Canada, but we don’t have an AI system to combat it with. That is what Cipher AI ultimately is, and what we’re building it to be.”
McQuinn founded Cipher in October of 2025 alongside University of Alberta computing science professor and Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) fellow, Matthew Taylor, and the University of Maryland’s Cody Buntain. The idea was to bring the platform out of academia and into the commercial realm in an effort to be more reactive to the rapid pace of online disinformation.
“There are some things that are not possible for research centres,” McQuinn said. “We have one foot in academia and one foot on the commercial side so we can move a little more nimbly.”
Early last month, Cipher co-authored its first report as a commercial operation. A joint venture with Disinfowatch, the May 6 report puts the company’s tech to the test against the Alberta separatist movement.
Cipher’s report was clear: disinformation did not create the separatist moment happening today. While Western frustration with Ottawa has bubbled up on and off since the province first joined confederation, the Alberta independence movement began to take shape in the 1970s. It has seen flare ups over the years, prominently during both Trudeau administrations. Polling from Angus Reid shows that, despite that long history, fewer than three in 10 Albertans support leaving Canada.
“We believe very much in democracy and citizens having the types of discussions that are around separation,” McQuinn said. “That’s important; it’s a part of our democratic process. It’s whether that discussion is being manipulated, or artificially amplified. That’s where we step in.”
And those discussions are being manipulated. According to the report, Alberta separatism has become an inflection point for both Russian and US disinformation. While Russia has a long track record of covertly using disinformation to inflame tensions in other countries, McQuinn said that today a majority of Alberta-related disinformation is coming from the US.
“The report demonstrated that while the Russian covert stuff … is constant, the American, overt stuff, plus the MAGA-aligned ecosystem underneath, is now quickly becoming … the most significant source of disinformation targeting Canada,” McQuinn said.
Peril and opportunity
According to McQuinn, much of the infrastructure used by the Canadian government to monitor disinformation has been outsourced to American operators. With so much US disinformation funnelling into Canada, he believes that raises real concerns over whether those operators can still be trusted.
“Are companies that are tracking disinformation based in the US going to call out their own administration, given the nature of this administration and its seemingly punitive ways?” McQuinn asked.
It also presents a business opportunity for the fledgling company. Last March, the federal government issued a directive on the management of communications and federal identity that included a requirement that all federal departments develop a strategy to deal with disinformation. Cipher wants to be a part of those strategies as a domestic alternative to US security providers. McQuinn told BetaKit that the company has been exploring pilot projects with both government and commercial organizations. The company did not disclose which organizations or at what stage those talks were at.
Who decides the truth?
Clifton van der Linden is a professor of political science at McMaster University. He’s also the director of the Digital Society Lab, an interdisciplinary research centre investigating how digital technology is transforming society and democracy. van der Linden, whose lab is also working on an algorithmic disinformation detection platform, shares McQuinn’s concern about the faltering reliability of the US. He also acknowledges that traditional efforts to combat disinformation just can’t keep pace, especially amid an AI explosion. Still, van der Linden isn’t sure that AI, or a commercial entity, is the silver bullet.
“We believe very much in democracy and citizens having the types of discussions that are around separation.”
Brian McQuinn, Cipher AI
“I’m wary of the centralization of authority of a technology that is seen as adjudicating truth claims,” van der Linden said. “These are not neutral algorithms … because algorithms invariably depend on their programming and parametres, and those parameters are set by human beings.”
That, van der Linden said, exposes these types of AI detection tools, regardless of who controls them, to potential vulnerabilities and biases.
“If they’re being set by profit-motivated, or to some extent government-influenced, corporations, then I’m not sure those parameters will be set in a way that accords with public interest,” van der Linden said. “We can’t do nothing. Something needs to be done. But we need to think about both the technology and how that technology is implemented, how it’s governed, and how it remains accountable to citizens.”
BetaKit’s Prairies reporting is funded in part by YEGAF, a not-for-profit dedicated to amplifying business stories in Alberta.
Feature image courtesy Unsplash. Photo by Kym MacKinnon.