APREX · EST. 2026
Norway has officially launched KI Norge — a national initiative aimed at placing the country at the forefront of safe and responsible artificial intelligence use. The ambition is crystal clear: Norway is to become the world's most digitalized country, according to kode24.
What Is KI Norge?
KI Norge is presented as a national initiative to coordinate and accelerate Norway's work on artificial intelligence — across the public sector, business, and research. The initiative places particular emphasis on ensuring that digitalization happens in a safe and responsible manner, not merely a rapid one.
The initiative aligns with the government's national digitalization strategy for 2024–2030, launched in September 2024. The strategy includes several concrete targets, among them that 80 percent of public agencies should be using AI by 2025, and that Norwegian businesses should lead the Nordic region in the use of cloud services, the Internet of Things, and big data.
We shall become the world's most digitalized country, and lead the way in safe AI use
Norway's Digital Starting Point
Norway is not without advantages in this race. The country consistently scores highly on international rankings for digital maturity. In the IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2024, Norway placed 10th globally. In the OECD Digital Government Index 2023, it came 4th among OECD countries, with a score of 77 percent — well above the OECD average of 60.5 percent.
Digital infrastructure is also solid: 99.9 percent of Norwegian households have internet access, and 96.5 percent of the population possess basic digital skills, according to available research data. NTNU alone graduates more than 3,800 technology candidates annually.
However, weaknesses exist as well. Business adoption of cloud services lags behind the Nordic average — something the strategy explicitly aims to address. And while Norway leads on e-government, only 52 percent of residents report trusting digital public services — a figure suggesting that trust and inclusion must be prioritized just as much as technology.
International Competition to Set the AI Standard
The launch comes at a time when countries and regions are competing to define the terms of responsible AI use. The EU AI Act — the world's first comprehensive legal framework for artificial intelligence — entered into force on 1 August 2024 and will be fully applicable from August 2026. The regulation classifies AI systems by risk level and imposes requirements for transparency, security, and human oversight.
Norway is not an EU member, but is closely integrated into the European digital market through the EEA Agreement. How KI Norge will relate to and implement EU regulations is therefore a central question for the initiative going forward.
Ambitious, but Verifiable?
The goal of becoming the "world's most digitalized country" is a lofty ambition — and not without measurement challenges. Different international rankings use different methodologies, and countries such as Denmark, Finland, and Singapore compete for many of the same top positions. In the Network Readiness Index 2025, Norway placed 14th globally and 9th in Europe, with "governance" as its strongest category and "people" as the area with the greatest potential for improvement.
The fact that around 20 percent of the population is considered at risk of digital exclusion serves as a reminder that technological leadership does not automatically mean inclusive digitalization.
The KI Norge initiative is now being closely watched by the technology community. Kode24, which covered the launch, reports that the initiative positions itself as a coalition of actors from both the public and private sectors. More concrete details regarding organization, funding, and governance model have yet to be clarified.