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Forty years after Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was shot and killed on a Stockholm street, Swedes are still grappling with whether his murder was carried out by a lone gunman or if it was a politically motivated assassination.
The case remains unsolved decades later, prompting amateur investigators to leverage artificial intelligence in hopes of uncovering new clues and persuading officials to revisit a probe that was closed in 2020.
A crime podcast named Spår (“Track”) has begun examining leading theories about Palme’s murder, utilizing an AI engine created through collaboration between Swedish and Belgian software companies.
“This concerns the murder of our leader, a democratically elected prime minister. We can’t just leave this case unresolved,” stated Anton Berg, a co-host of the podcast, which plans to gradually share findings derived from AI analysis.
Up to this point, Spår has not announced any definitive breakthroughs. However, Berg noted that given AI’s capability to learn and improve, they hope their tool will become so sophisticated that it might help reopen the case.
Palme was fatally shot at close range as he headed home after a movie outing on February 28, 1986.
Over the years, various theories have implicated South Africa’s apartheid security agencies, Kurdish militants, Swedish right-wing extremists, and even lone gunmen. One individual was convicted but later released, and prosecutors officially closed the case in 2020. A review last year reaffirmed that closure, even though the main suspect was acquitted.
“Basically, we aren’t any more informed now than we were on the day of the murder,” said Gunnar Wall, author of several books on the Palme case.
On the 40th anniversary of Palme’s death this Saturday, protesters plan to present a petition to parliament calling for the case to be reopened. Such appeals could gain traction if amateur sleuths are correct in their belief that AI can now accomplish what decades of police work could not.
The AI used by the Spår podcast mimics a team of investigators by analyzing evidence, evaluating data, and identifying missing links—tasks it performs much faster than humans.
It can process around 30,000 publicly accessible digital documents related to the case in under a second. In contrast, reviewing the approximately 500,000 pages of case files would take roughly a decade for investigators, according to police.
Advances in forensic technology—from fingerprinting to DNA analysis—have revolutionized criminal investigations. Experts say AI might be the next major breakthrough.
For example, in 2018, AI-assisted DNA analysis helped Los Angeles police catch Joseph DeAngelo, known as the Golden State Killer, who had murdered 13 people and assaulted over 50 others years earlier.
“AI represents a paradigm shift,” said Lena Klasen, former head of Sweden’s National Forensic Centre and currently an Adjunct Professor of Digital Forensics at Linköping University. “It’s going to change the way we work much like computers did, but on an even larger scale.”
Swedish authorities declined to comment about whether AI has been employed specifically in the Palme investigation, which will remain closed unless new evidence suggests an arrest and conviction are achievable.
Even with its data-processing capabilities, AI might struggle to solve Palme’s murder due to limitations such as heavily redacted files and large portions of evidence that remain unpublished. Simon Lundell, part of another group of amateur AI investigators, pointed out that access to police files is limited, with only about 1,000 pages released annually—meaning it could take centuries to review all relevant information.
Despite these obstacles, Lundell emphasized their goal remains “to solve the murder.”
Additionally, there is no certainty that the necessary evidence even exists. Investigations have indicated police mishandled initial inquiries, with some documents lost and leads not followed up on.
“AI can’t find information that isn’t there,” explained Lennart Gune, Prosecution Director at the Swedish Prosecution Authority, highlighting the significant challenge posed by gaps in available data.
Use of AI in criminal investigations also raises privacy concerns. The high-profile Golden State Killer case stirred controversy over the privacy implications of DNA databases accessed without explicit consent.
Sweden plans to introduce legislation in 2025 allowing police to deploy real-time AI-based facial recognition to combat gang violence. However, restrictions are expected to limit the technology’s use due to privacy debates and surveillance issues.
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