Denmark stands against critics of public sector AI plans | Computer Weekly

The Danish government is preparing legislation, soon to be tabled in parliament, that would give public bodies a blanket right to process personal data with AI in pursuit of their legislated service obligations, Computer Weekly reported. The report describes the authorisation as a blanket right covering public bodies acting under their statutory duties. The bill is described as soon to be tabled, meaning it has not yet been introduced for parliamentary scrutiny.

The bill would also permit public bodies to build and train AI systems and to use those systems to profile people. Legal campaign groups including IT-Pol have argued that the broad legal basis it creates lacks sufficient limits and safeguards. According to those critics, the proposal does not meet EU law's requirement that such intrusions be precisely defined. The critics' position rests on the argument that a broad authorisation cannot meet that standard by itself.

The report does not specify which public bodies, services or categories of personal data the blanket right would cover, nor which safeguards, if any, accompany it. It states that the bill has not yet been tabled, and the objections described concern the legal basis as drafted rather than any specific AI deployment already carried out by a Danish public body. No timetable for tabling, no named minister and no specific AI system are given in the account. IT-Pol's criticism is framed around the precision requirement in EU law, which the group says a broad blanket authorisation does not satisfy.