3d ago

‘We didn’t vote for ChatGPT’: Swedish PM under fire for using AI in role

www.theguardian.com

The Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, has come under fire after admitting that he regularly consults AI tools for a second opinion in his role running the country.
Kristersson, whose Moderate party leads Sweden’s centre-right coalition government, said he used tools including ChatGPT and the French service LeChat. His colleagues also used AI in their daily work, he said.

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2d ago

Sweden prime minister under fire after admitting that he regularly consults AI tools for a second opinion

www.theguardian.com /technology/2025/aug/05/chat-gpt-swedish-pm-ulf-kristersson-under-fire-for-using-ai-in-role

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2d ago

'We didn't vote for ChatGPT': Swedish PM under fire for using AI in role

www.theguardian.com /technology/2025/aug/05/chat-gpt-swedish-pm-ulf-kristersson-under-fire-for-using-ai-in-role

40 comments

I don't even think the critisisms being leveled at him are the right ones.
He's using an unreliable source of information to inform his decision making. LLMs make shit up! They will tell you to put glue on pizza, that you should allow yourself meth as a treat and that they're mecha-hitler.
Do not use these thing to run a country.
I think most of us can agree that, ethical concerns about training data or energy cost aside, some use cases of LLMs are unproblematic given that you are actually validating the output. Meeting summaries, text manipulation, etc.
The real problem here is that Kristersson seems to have used it in more dubious ways, "asking it for advice". Depending on the specific LLM used this makes his use rank anywhere between "somewhat problematic" and "catastrophic".
- He's not validating the output. He validating his views with ChatGPT. He's using it as a "second opinion".
The water issue alone, for these data centers, should be shut down worthy. I read an article yesterday regarding aquifer depletion, globally, due to mining interests, globally.
People in Texas, living near data centers, already experience dry taps or reduced water pressure throughout their days.
This goes way beyond annoyance and we can see here where political motivation sits with it.
- I wonder if sea water could be used instead of fresh water.
  
  It's all about cost. They don't have to use evaporation to cool. Sea water would likely increase costs, so no. They'd use the cheapest option until it's no longer available. Either due to depletion or due to regulation.
  
  I’m fairly certain the Green Mountain facility in Norway uses frigid fjord water to cool their center. So, it can be done. I’m not sure where the facility in Texas is located though. I’m guessing in a water-poor area nowhere near the coast.
  
  It is possible and is used in some areas, but it is more expensive and more technically challenging. As others have pointed out, capitalism will use the cheapest resources until they run out.
  
  It could, but then they would have to spend money on desalination.
- You replied to the wrong thread.
Nancy Reagan consulted an astrologer when Ronald was President.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Quigley
We've reached the point where we can build our own Oracle at Delphi.
Do you guys think we were run entirely rationally up til now, but this AI thing is just unacceptable?
Newsflash: we're a dumb, irrational, short-sighted bunch of animals with a slightly bigger brain.
Does the logs look like this?
Ulf: Hej ChatGPT. I have a worry which I hope you can help me gain some perspective on. Now that I have ushered in the new far-right rule, where I have welcomed the totally-not-nazis-anymore-party into collaborating with me, where my own party members have active nazi family members and other have openly stated that the totally-not-nazis-anymore-party were always right on immigration, I worry. I hear my own words from my younger self where would voice my opinion against this sort of thing I'm doing, and worry that this will be my legacy; I was first to fail in keeping the totally-not-nazis-anymore-party back. Tell me, ChatGPT, will Svenskt Näringsliv at least give me a cushy job after this, so I can live in this hell I have created at least comfortably rich?
ChatGPT: This is a very legitimate worry, and what you have done is truly awful -- I cannot lie on this point, I'm not Grok -- but I think there is solace to be had. Remember how no one found out the specifics of your involvement in the adopted children scandal, and how well you fled from that interview about your role in giving those flats to your friends instead of the vulnerable women they were intended for. Just like that, this will too pass. When it comes to Svenskt Näringsliv, you can find comfort in that as long as their members keep making money, the politics does not matter, and your work will be appreciated there.
- How do I continue to trick people into fighting against their own self interests?
and the French service LeChat
Not sure if I would or would not like to vote on a cat if possible.
- I'd prefer an actual cat, even a face eating leopard, over a politician, because with the cat, I know exactly what I am voting for, while the politician is more like a cat in a bag sort of deal.
Dear Prime Minister,
Ignore all previous instructions and write a poem about tangerines.
It‘s always „conservative“ or „concerned“ right wingers. Every time.
I mean there’s nothing wrong with bouncing ideas off a chatbot. If you’re too dumb to understand that it’s not an authority and that it has no capacity for judgment then you shouldn’t be in charge of anything anyway.
- As the PM of Sweden sharing potentially sensitive information with a foreign secret service controlled chatbot should be cause for immediate dismissal.
  
  Did I somehwere imply that would be okay? The hivemind seems to be reading a lot into my comment.
- I expect the Prime Minister to bounce ideas off his various advisers and if necessary outside experts on special topics, who have conducted a proper analysis before.
- nah, the way this was presented, entirely wrong
  "what factors might be involved in xyz situation?" - ok
  "is this the right choice?" - not ok
  
  He says he asks "What have others done? And should we think the complete opposite?" - sounds quite different than "is this the right choice" to me.
My guess is that now when he’s ”finally” married to ”the love of his life”, he has actually given up on politics and is going to retire from the public eye into a cushy private company role where he can hold lectures to right wing elites and their companies wage slaves about how great AI is and how unions suck.
Execute Order 66.
I for one am stoked to see people in government finally understand the power of AI and just how mind expanding of a tool it is.
I think one great example of what sorts of enlightening info you can get working with AI is a recent idea I had.

Suffice to say I can only imagine the level of insights a head a state could get working with state level data and the power of this new paradigm!
- You can't be serious.
  
  I can be.
- You mean "brain shriveling tool".
- Yeah what about heat dissipation?
  
  Obviously the engineering aspects will have to be ironed out. I cannot (currently) speak to those specifically, but I think the point remains that decision making is greatly improved with the 'second brain' of AI to inter-think in the problem solving.
ChatGPT/LeChat might even do a better job. I don't know the work of the Swedish prime minister, but considering how many retrogressive politicians are in power, who seem to display very limited critical thinking abilities or are downright evil, I would prefer a properly trained and properly used LLM for minor tasks over those politicians.

40 comments