The Swedish Government Offices (Regeringskansliet), which serve the government and its ministries, are blocking the web interfaces of ChatGPT and Claude on staff work computers from Monday, October 26. Sveriges Radio's news programme Ekot first reported the decision on October 23, and public broadcaster SVT confirmed it with the Government Offices.

What is changing

In an email to SVT, the Government Offices said all employees have access to Microsoft's AI tool and that certain AI services will be switched off from Monday. The browser interfaces of ChatGPT and Claude "will no longer be reachable," according to the statement quoted by SVT.

Staff are directed to Microsoft Copilot, which the Government Offices have approved. SVT reports that after reviewing Copilot, the Government Offices raised its security level; no further details were given.

The block is not total. According to the Government Offices, staff can still use ChatGPT and Claude through Intric, an AI assistant platform used internally.

Why

Ekot reported that the Government Offices' digitalisation director, Mikael Wettercrantz, warned internally that AI services used without an agreement can have consequences for information security. Ekot also reported that the Government Offices had earlier restricted the Chinese service DeepSeek.

Other agencies

According to Ekot and SVT, the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) and the National Board of Institutional Care (Statens institutionsstyrelse) had already introduced similar blocks, and the Swedish Enforcement Authority (Kronofogden) is considering one.

Who it matters to

The decision is about contracts and data handling, not about which model is better. The same models stay available through a platform the Government Offices have an agreement for, while the consumer websites are shut off.

What this means if you work in a public body or a regulated company

Check your organisation's list of approved tools before pasting work documents into any chatbot. A personal account on a public website is exactly what the Government Offices chose to shut off.

If your workplace standardises on Copilot, it helps to know where it differs from ChatGPT in everyday tasks: Microsoft Copilot vs ChatGPT.