Sweden's Government Offices Block ChatGPT and Claude on Staff Computers, Steer Staff to Microsoft Copilot
From Monday, October 26, staff at Sweden's Government Offices, which include the Prime Minister's Office and the ministries, can no longer open the browser versions of ChatGPT and Claude on work computers. Staff are directed to Microsoft Copilot, which the office says it reviewed and secured further, and staff can still reach both models through an internal platform called Intric. Its director of digitalisation cited cases of problematic use of AI services without a formal agreement.
Sweden's central government is drawing its line at contracts rather than models: consumer chatbots are out, the Microsoft tool it has reviewed is in, and the same models stay reachable through an internal platform. The block took effect on Monday, October 26; Sveriges Radio's Ekot first reported it, and SVT confirmed it with the Government Offices on October 23.
What is blocked
The Government Offices told SVT in an email that "the browser interface for the AI services ChatGPT and Claude will no longer be reachable from Government Offices work computers from October 26." "Within Intric, employees still have access to the language models ChatGPT and Claude," it added, referring to an internal platform.
Staff are directed to Microsoft's Copilot, which SVT says the Government Offices reviewed and then made more secure. The Government Offices includes the Prime Minister's Office and the ministries, Notebookcheck notes.
Why
Mikael Wettercrantz, the Government Offices' director of digitalisation, wrote on the staff intranet that using AI services without a formal agreement can have "consequences for our information security," according to Decrypt. "We have seen several examples of problematic use of open AI services," he wrote, as quoted by Decrypt, adding that the examples concern both the sensitivity of information entered and how the responses were handled.
Who else has done this
SVT reports that the Swedish Tax Agency and the National Board of Institutional Care already have similar blocks, and that the Enforcement Authority is preparing its own decision. Decrypt notes that the European Parliament disabled AI features on work devices in February.
The Government Offices has not said whether Anthropic's models, which Microsoft offers inside Copilot, are switched on in its version, Notebookcheck and Decrypt report.
Limits
- SVT's report is in Swedish; the English translations of its quotes are ours.
- We did not see the intranet post; Wettercrantz's words reach us in Decrypt's English rendering, which Notebookcheck repeats.
- The block applies to the Government Offices, not to all Swedish public bodies.
- We did not read Sveriges Radio Ekot's original report.