Skip to main content
Log in

A cautionary tale about the adoption of medical AI in Sweden

  • Comment
  • Published:

From Nature Machine Intelligence

View current issue Submit your manuscript

A recent case of a flawed medical AI system that was backed by public funding provides an opportunity to discuss the impact of government policies and regulation in AI.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

References

  1. Government Offices of Sweden. National Approach to Artificial Intelligence; https://wp.oecd.ai/app/uploads/2021/12/Sweden_National_Approach_to_Artificial_Intelligence_2018.pdf (2018).

  2. Swanberg, L. & Samuelsson, O. http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9021832/file/9021846.pdf (2020).

  3. Cederberg, J. Läkartidningen https://lakartidningen.se/aktuellt/nyheter/2020/10/upphandling-av-it-system-kritiseras/ (2020).

  4. European Commission. https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/880707 (2021).

  5. Fridh, L. & Lärka, P. SVT Nyheter https://www.svt.se/nyheter/granskning/ug/ai-verktyg-skulle-spara-varden-miljoner-kritiseras-av-lakare-och-lakemedelsverket (2020).

  6. Lindahl, D. SVT Nyheter https://www.svt.se/nyheter/granskning/ug/ug-referens-varden-och-ai-verktyget (2020).

  7. Sveriges Domstolar. https://www.domstol.se/nyheter/2022/04/fallande-domar-i-ett-mal-om-brott-kopplade-till-en-offentlig-upphandling/ (2022).

  8. Fridh, L. & Lärka, P. SVT Nyheter https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/skane/skansk-vd-uppgavs-felaktigt-ha-doktorsexamen (2020).

  9. Fridh, L. & Lärka, P. SVT Nyheter https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/skane/vardinnovation-anvande-sig-av-en-pahittad-kommunikationschef (2021).

  10. Fridh, L. & Lärka, P. SVT Nyheter https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/skane/atalade-vd-n-fragas-ut-om-pahittade-kommunikationschefen (2021).

  11. Niemiec, E. Digit. Health 8, 1–8 (2022).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Jarman, H., Rozenblum, S. & Huang, T. J. Health Econ. Policy Law 16, 51–63 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Ben-Menahem, S. M., Nistor-Gallo, R., Macia, G., von Krogh, G. & Goldhahn, J. Nat. Biomed. Eng. 4, 585–590 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. European Commission. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM:2021:0206:FIN (2021).

  15. Mazzucato, M. The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs. Private Sector Myths (Anthem Press, 2014).

  16. Mazzucato, M. https://marianamazzucato.com/policy/impact/ (2022).

  17. European Commission. https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-europe_en (2022).

  18. Wennberg, K. & Sandström, C. in Questioning the Entrepreneurial State: Status-quo, Pitfalls, and the Need for Credible Innovation Policy (eds Wennberg K. & Sandström C.) 3–18 (Springer International, 2022).

  19. Mingardi, A. Cato J 35, 603–625 (2015).

    Google Scholar 

  20. Nagendran, M. et al. Br. Med. J. 368, m689 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Bunz, M. & Braghieri, M. AI Soc. 37, 9–22 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Bareis, J. & Katzenbach, C. Sci. Technol. Human Values 47, 855–881 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Toll, D., Lindgren, I., Melin, U. & Madsen, C. Ø. JeDEM 12, 40–60 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Berg, F. SVT Nyheter https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/skane/politiker-sager-sitt-om-det-brutna-miljardavtalet (2020).

  25. Fridh, L. & Lärka, P. SVT Nyheter https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/skane/patientrisker (2021).

  26. Fridh, L. & Lårka, P. SVT Nyheter https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/skane/cheflakare-vittnar-om-tystnadskultur (2021).

  27. Veale, M. & Zuiderveen Borgesius, F. Comput. Law Rev. Int. 22, 97–112 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

I thank S. Slokenberga, D. Trubnikov and M. Johansson for helpful comments on the earlier version of this article, and P. Robinson for help with language editing. This work was funded by the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare via grant “Ethical and social issues related to use of AI-based decision support tools in healthcare” (2020-01089).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Emilia Niemiec.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Machine Intelligence thanks Douglas Miller and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Niemiec, E. A cautionary tale about the adoption of medical AI in Sweden. Nat Mach Intell 5, 5–7 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42256-022-00602-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42256-022-00602-4

  • Springer Nature Limited

Navigation