Sweden’s government offices block ChatGPT and Claude

Sweden’s Government Offices, the Regeringskansliet, are blocking the ChatGPT and Claude websites on staff work computers starting Monday. Employees are pointed instead to Microsoft’s AI tool Copilot.

“The browser interface for the AI services ChatGPT and Claude will no longer be reachable from the Government Offices’ work computers as of Oct. 26,” the Government Offices said in an email quoted by SVT. “Within the framework of Intric, employees still have access to the language models ChatGPT and Claude.”

The block covers the Government Offices, which are headquartered at Rosenbad in central Stockholm. It is not a national ban. Swedes outside those offices can still use both chatbots.

Sveriges Radio’s Ekot first reported the move Oct. 23.

What changes

The Government Offices told SVT that all employees have access to Microsoft’s AI tool. SVT says Copilot is approved by the Government Offices, which raised its security after a review.

The press office would not detail those security changes, citing security concerns, Ekot reports.

The models themselves are not gone. The email to SVT says employees can still reach ChatGPT and Claude through Intric. Ekot says some staff will keep access to a dedicated platform for AI assistants that offers both models.

So the block targets one route: the public chat websites opened in a browser.

Why

The Government Offices’ digitalization director, Mikael Wettercrantz, declined an Ekot interview. In a comment on the Government Offices’ intranet, he wrote that using AI services without an agreement can have “consequences for our information security,” Ekot reports.

The Government Offices had already restricted the Chinese AI service DeepSeek, according to Ekot.

Not the only agency

Sweden’s Tax Agency, Skatteverket, and the National Board of Institutional Care, known as SiS, have already blocked such services, SVT reports. The Swedish Enforcement Authority, Kronofogden, is weighing the question, SVT says. Ekot says Kronofogden is preparing a position.

Our read: The stated rationale is data handling, not model quality. That matters. The block does not say ChatGPT or Claude are unsafe as models; the same models stay available inside Intric, according to the Government Offices’ own email. What changes is the channel. Public chat websites sit outside the Government Offices’ contracts, and Wettercrantz’s warning is about services “without an agreement.” That is a contract-and-control argument, and a familiar one in government IT. The public record on the risk here is thin. Neither the Government Offices nor Ekot has described a leak or incident at the Government Offices, though Ekot cites a Trafikverket internal audit this year that found “problematic use” of open AI services at that agency. The press office also won’t say what it changed in Copilot. That leaves readers unable to judge whether the approved tool is meaningfully safer. A browser block is also narrow. It stops the websites on work computers. The fact that the Tax Agency, SiS and possibly Kronofogden are moving the same way suggests a trend among Swedish agencies, not a single office’s quirk.

What’s next

The block took effect Monday, Oct. 26, according to the Government Offices. Kronofogden is still preparing a position, according to Ekot.