Minimising the risks of digitalisation and AI
- Personal privacy instead of digital dictatorship.
Technological system that allows direct control by those in power.
Digital identity, digital currency and artificial intelligence - a new global infrastructure with far-reaching consequences
Digital identity systems, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and artificial intelligence (AI) together constitute an emerging global digital infrastructure that is gradually being integrated into our societal structures. Technically, much of this infrastructure is already in place - but it is only now that its full implications are becoming clear. Whoever controls this infrastructure will effectively control the development of society.
Despite the potential benefits in terms of increased efficiency, convenience and accessibility, the risks of this development are both tangible and fundamental. Linking digital wallets, controlled by a central actor such as the European Commission, to an individual's digital identity creates a technological system that allows decision-makers to have direct control over citizens' economic and social participation in society. This opens up a new type of governance that was previously technically impossible - where the right to spend one's money, travel, or access social services can be conditioned, restricted or blocked in real time.
At the same time, a parallel revolution is taking place in the field of artificial intelligence. AI is essentially defined as systems that can communicate and act in ways that mimic human intelligence - by reasoning, making decisions, solving complex problems and adapting to new information.
As AI integrates with other data-driven technologies such as advanced data storage, machine learning, image and language processing, and sensor technologies, we are undergoing a technological transformation of enormous scope. What we are witnessing is not a gradual evolution, but a profound systemic change - probably faster and more far-reaching than any previous technological revolution since industrialisation. The effects will be felt in all areas of society: from the economy, justice and education to public administration and democratic decision-making.
It is therefore crucial to understand that this infrastructure - although marketed as technologically neutral and socially beneficial - in practice creates new power structures. Structures that can reinforce control, surveillance and inequality, if left unregulated or entrusted to private or supranational actors without democratic oversight. This is not a technical detail. It is a structural shift of power, from citizens to systems, from democratic control to code-driven surveillance. Whoever controls this infrastructure will in practice control the development of society.
The question is no longer whether this happens - but on whose terms
Policy so far has been reactive, slow and technically ignorant. The government has set up a so-called National AI Council, but it's a loosely knit discussion forum with no clear powers, no independent scrutiny and no technical depth. It is not a body that can take responsibility for protecting Swedish society from the risks - and seize the opportunities - that digital infrastructure and AI bring. But these same technologies are also capable of distorting opinion, cementing power, marginalising professions, and turning people into monitored consumers in a system they do not understand.
Ambition Sverige will work for:
Regarding digital IDs and central bank digital currencies:
- Demand public debate and referendum before implementation of digital central bank currency and ID.
- We demand that every individual is given full legal ownership and control over their own biometric data - including the right to consent, restriction, traceability and financial protection from commercial exploitation.
- We call for an end to the mandatory link between ID systems and financial transactions.
- Secure and preserve cash as a statutory, protected right.
- Set legal limits on what digital currencies and ID systems can contain, record and control.
- Build open, non-centrally controlled digital identity options.
As regards AI:
- Without free access to information, there is no free thought - and without free thought, there is no democracy. Ambition Sverige therefore demands that access to information on the internet remains free, open and uncensored - because freedom of information is a prerequisite for democracy, freedom of expression and a free society. AI provided to Swedish citizens must therefore fulfil these requirements.
- We call for a national AI infrastructure - Publicly funded and openly and transparently vetted AI models based on local laws, language, culture and ethics should be developed.
- We demand that no AI can make decisions that affect people's lives without full transparency, legal accountability and human control - as in Danish law. It must be clear who is behind an AI decision, what data it is based on and what values have been prioritised. Automated decisions should always be appealable.
- Data sovereignty - All sensitive data, especially from public authorities, schools and healthcare, must be stored and processed within Sweden's borders and by actors under democratic control (not the EU or global and private actors).
- Digital literacy - Citizens and decision-makers should be educated about new technologies and AI.
- Active regulation to prevent platform dependency and to promote open, interoperable options.
- Ambition Sverige calls for work to identify and analyse risks linked to AI in military and civilian security systems to be initiated and for the protection of critical infrastructure from AI-driven attacks, sabotage or disinformation to be developed.
- Finally, we call for developing our defence capabilities against autonomous weapons systems and digitally targeted attacks, and for strengthening international legal, ethical and technical safeguards against the use of AI against populations - by other states or by private actors.