Ctrl + Find: Evidence - Responsible AI-Based Triage in Swedish Digital Forensics: Implementation and Governance Challenges

Sammanfattning

Introduction: The growing volume of digital evidence has increased the need for technological support in digital forensics. AI-based tools may improve efficiency by prioritising relevant material and reducing manual workloads, but they also raise concerns regarding transparency, accountability, and procedural fairness. Research Question: The study aims to answer the following research question: How can AI-based evidence triage be responsibly implemented in Swedish digital forensic investigations? Method: The study is based on eleven qualitative semi-structured interviews, including two written responses, with experts in law, digital forensics and AI. The empirical material is analysed through thematic analysis to identify key conditions and challenges related to AI use in investigations. Results: The findings indicate that AI-based evidence triage should be viewed as a decision-support tool that can improve efficiency in high-volume investigations. However, responsible implementation requires human oversight, continuous system monitoring, organisational accountability and procedural safeguards to ensure transparency and legal compliance. Transparency was found to rely more on institutional controls and procedural safeguards than on system explainability. Discussion: The study suggests that AI-based evidence triage can be responsibly implemented in Swedish digital forensics under clear organisational and legal conditions, highlighting the importance of governance and institutional practice. However, the findings are based on a small qualitative sample without empirical system testing, limiting generalisability, and future research should examine practical implementation, performance, human oversight, and applicability across legal systems.