Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has sparked controversy by admitting to frequently using AI tools like ChatGPT for second opinions on political issues. The Moderate party leader revealed that he and his colleagues rely on these tools in their daily work, prompting concerns among tech experts and critics about the risks of over-relying on AI in political decision-making.
Tech experts, however, have raised concerns about politicians using AI tools in such a way, and the Aftonbladet newspaper accused Kristersson in a editorial of having ‘fallen for the oligarchs’ AI psychosis.’ Kristersson’s spokesperson, Tom Samuelsson, later said the prime minister did not take risks in his use of AI. ‘Naturally it is not security sensitive information that ends up there. It is used more as a ballpark,’ he said.
But Virginia Dignum, a professor of responsible artificial intelligence at Umea University, said AI was not capable of giving a meaningful opinion on political ideas, and that it simply reflects the views of those who built it. ‘The more he relies on AI for simple things, the bigger the risk of an overconfidence in the system. It is a slippery slope,’ she told the Dagens Nyheter newspaper. ‘We must demand that reliability can be guaranteed. We didn’t vote for ChatGPT.’