Denmark stands against critics of public sector AI plans

Danish businesses rank as Europe's foremost users of AI, but the government's efforts to use the technology widely in the public sector have stalled. The Danish government said last year that poor data quality and legal uncertainty have hindered those efforts and deterred municipalities from using AI to improve public services. Critics say the government's plan undermines data protection and human rights.

Ida Marie Schrøder, associate professor of technologies in practice at the IT University of Copenhagen, argues the problem is legal. In her words, "All government's AI policies and hopes were blocked by its own lack of legal regulation." She says many of the signature projects were blocked because they were not legal to begin with.

Schrøder sees that outcome as fortunate for Danes, because, as she puts it, no one had a clue what was being developed, and she fears that is still the case.

She co-wrote a study of a media storm that led to the cancellation of early Danish attempts to use AI in child protection. One of those projects, Gladsaxe, was meant to detect vulnerable children. It became a byword for unacceptable algorithmic practice in Denmark.

The story shows the tension in Danish public sector AI policy. The government wants wider adoption and sees legal uncertainty as a barrier, while critics point to earlier failures and warn that data protection and human rights are at stake. The material available here covers only part of the reporting, so the details of the government's current plan are not set out.