The assassination of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme who was shot dead on a Stockholm street has remained one of the greatest political murder mysteries.
Even after forty years, the authorities have failed to catch the perpetrators.
To find answers, amateur detectives have turned to artificial intelligence in the hope of identifying new leads and persuading authorities to reopen an investigation that was closed in 2020.
A podcast team called Spår (“Track”) is now utilizing a custom-built AI engine developed by Swedish and Belgian firms to analyze hundreds of thousands of pages of case files.
Anton Berg, a co-presenter of the podcast, which intends to present the findings using AI gradually, said "This is about the murder of our leader, a democratically elected prime minister. You can't just close the case.”
Although no breakthrough has been found yet, the investigators believe that AI’s ability to process data rapidly and identify overlooked patterns will provide enough reasons to open the case again.
“Our hope is that this tool will get so advanced that we can open up the investigation again,” Breg said.
The AI tool deployed by the team mimics a human investigative team. It can analyze 30,000 digital documents in less than a second. Otherwise it would take years for humans to evaluate these documents.
In the field of criminology, AI can be the next game-changer that could revolutionize the methodology of crime solving, according to experts.
AI is a paradigm shift. It is going to change how we work in the way that computers did. But this is bigger,” Lena Klasen said, the former head of Sweden's National Forensic Centre.
In 2018, AI-powered DNA analysis helped Los Angeles police to catch Joseph DeAngelo, known as the Golden State Killer, who murdered 13 people and raped at least 50 people many years earlier.
AI can be helpful in finding clues, but it is not sure that it will solve the murder mystery efficiently.
AI can fall short in finding answers if certain data are missing. According to experts, if proof does not exist anymore, no technology, no matter how efficient it is, can invent it.
Lennart Gune, Director of Prosecution at the Swedish Prosecution Authority, said, "There is no technique that can help with information that isn't there, and that is a big part of the problem that there are gaps in the information.
Moreover, the use of AI In investigations also raises ethical and privacy concerns regarding DNA scanning and surveillance.
For instance, in 2025 police were given restrictive powers to use real-time AI-assisted face recognition to fight crime.
On the 40th anniversary, protesters petitioned the Swedish parliament to reopen the case with a renewed hope that emerging technology will help in reaching the culprit.