Sweden’s Government Offices blocks ChatGPT and Claude, approves Microsoft Copilot

Sweden’s central government administration is pulling the plug on two of the world’s best-known chatbots. Starting Monday, staff at the Government Offices will no longer be able to use OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude on their work computers.

Microsoft’s Copilot is the one AI assistant left standing. For the civil servants who support the prime minister and cabinet, the chatbot menu just got a lot shorter.

What the Government Offices decided

The restriction was reported by Sveriges Radio, Sweden’s national, publicly funded radio broadcaster. It applies to the Government Offices, known in Swedish as Regeringskansliet, which is the administrative machinery behind the cabinet.

According to research findings on the decision, the block takes effect on October 26, 2026. From that date, employees are expected to stick to pre-approved AI tools. In practice, that means Copilot.

Copilot did not get the nod automatically. It passed an internal security review, but only after adjustments were made to its settings.

ChatGPT and Claude are not being erased from the building entirely. A limited number of staff will still be able to reach both models through an AI-assistant platform the Government Offices built in-house.

The motivation, as outlined by digitalisation director Mikael Wettercrantz, centers on information security. The concern is especially sharp around AI services that operate without a contract in place.

“We have seen several examples of problematic use of open AI services.”

That line, carried in Sveriges Radio’s reporting, captures the worry neatly. When a government employee pastes text into a consumer chatbot, the office may have little say over where that information goes next.

A pattern across Swedish agencies

The Government Offices is not moving alone. The Swedish Tax Agency, Skatteverket, has already imposed similar restrictions on AI tools.

So has the National Board of Institutional Care, known as SiS. The Enforcement Authority, Kronofogden, is assessing its own position and is expected to announce a decision soon.

There is precedent inside the Government Offices too. The administration had already restricted DeepSeek, the Chinese AI model, before this latest move.

An audit at the Transport Administration, Trafikverket, offers a glimpse of why officials are nervous. It identified problematic use of around 10 open AI services.

What this means for AI vendors and public-sector users

The most obvious winner is Microsoft. Copilot is now the only approved AI tool for staff at the Government Offices, a position any AI company would happily take.

For OpenAI and Anthropic, the signal is mixed. Their models are still in use through the in-house platform, so the technology itself has not been rejected.

What has been rejected is the open, direct-to-employee route. Staff can no longer simply open a browser tab and start typing. Access now runs through a channel the government controls.

The in-house platform approach is worth watching. It lets the Government Offices keep access to multiple models while routing them through infrastructure it manages.

The next marker to watch is Kronofogden. Its expected decision will show whether the restrictive approach continues spreading through Swedish agencies.