ENACTING RESPONSIBLE AI IN THE SWEDISH PUBLIC SECTOR

Sammanfattning

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly visible across the Swedish public sector,yet it remains unclear how responsible use is enacted in practice. This thesis examines how AIsystems are used across Swedish public-sector organisations and what conditions makeresponsible use possible. Drawing on Recker et al.’s (2025) digital responsibility framework,organised around three interdependent dimensions: accountability, obligation, anddependability, the study combines a document-based mapping of publicly visible AI systemswith six semi-structured expert interviews.The central problem is under what organisational conditions responsible use of AI is enacted,and how this aligns with public-sector expectations of legality, fairness, transparency, andrespect for residents’ rights. The findings suggest that AI use is expanding but responsible useremains unevenly developed. Accountability is framed around retained human responsibility,but becomes fragile when employees cannot understand, verify, or explain AI-supportedoutputs. Obligation involves balancing public-sector benefits against possible harms, whiledependability is constrained by competence gaps, infrastructure limitations, vendordependence, and sovereignty concerns.The study contributes to IS research on digital responsibility by applying Recker et al.’sframework as an empirical lens for responsible AI in a public-sector setting. It shows how thethree dimensions become visible in practice and identifies legitimacy and organisationalpreparedness as empirical conditions that shape whether responsible AI use can be enacted. Italso contributes to governance discussions about trustworthy AI in a decentralised welfarestate shaped by Nordic values and institutional commitments that set a high bar for how AIsystems are expected to serve residents.