58: How AI is Reshaping Norway with Marion Loken

About this episode

Summary:

Anastassia and Marion Loken discuss the advancements and challenges of AI in Norway, highlighting the country’s high level of digitization, trust in institutions, and historical mathematical expertise. They discuss the development of a Norwegian LLM, literacy programs at the national and corporate levels, and ethical considerations surrounding the development and use of ML and genAI technologies.

Marian Loken is a visionary leader in digitalization, data analytics, and AI, currently serving as VP of Insights and Analytics at Strawberry. She has held senior roles at major organizations, including FINN.no, Schibsted Marketplaces, NAV, McKinsey & Company, and Norsk Tipping. Her leadership has been acknowledged with inclusion in Norway's Top 50 Women in Tech list for 2025, highlighting her impact on the tech industry and her commitment to empowering organizations through technology and data.

Key Takeaways:

In Norway, a high level of digitization, institutional trust, and math literacy foster the adoption and development of AI.

Norway is one of the few countries with a large Norwegian-language model. Its development faces initial challenges, but after three years advanced.

Norway follows the EU AI Act, as the country is focused on AI ethics. This includes paying attention to the engineering level of genAI technologies, where rules are set by builders and reflect their ideology and beliefs.

Transparency is key to adopting genAI technologies, and it primarily concerns the engineering layer.

Motor insurance is one of the early adopters of AI, offering immediate claims payouts once the insured sends a picture of the damage.

Data quality is imperative to any AI program.

Culture and change management are key to delivering on AI.

Communicating the ‘why’ and ‘how’ around AI adoption is important to deliver on personalized technologies, e.g., addressing the gambling addiction in the national gambling industry.

Trust in institutions leads to taking risks, which is positive for boosting AI adoption.

Democratizing AI literacy and AI adoption beyond China and the US, addressing the climate dilemma behind current LLMs and AI based on transformers and developing applications to let people experience things through the perspectives and eyes of others are important topics to further develop AI.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to the episode, statistics about AI in Norway

4:03 AI in Norway: Norwegian LLM, national policy, use of AI in public sector

09:50 AI Literacy programs in Finland and Norway

11:48 Demographics and AI in Norway, AI in healthcare

14:14 AI funding in Norway, China and the US

18:10 EU AI Act and Norway

21:20 Practical compliance with the EU AI Act and genAI - addressing the engineering layer

22:50 AI in motor insurance in Norway: a use case

24:53 AI and personalization to address gambling addiction: a use case

27:27 Preconditions to developing and growing AI in Norway: trust, math and AI Literacy programs

34:14 understanding privacy: the Grok example

37:08 Suggestions of topics for beneficial and safe AI development: democratization, addressing environmental burden due to current AI architectures, AI enabling seeing the world through someone else’s eyes

Hyperlinks:

Marion Loken:

LinkedIn profile

Sessionize profile

NDC conference

RankMyAI: AI Report Norway 2025

Anastassia:

Anastassia Lauterbach - LinkedIn

First Public Reading, Romy, Roby and the Secrets of Sleep (1/3)

First Public Reading, Romy, Roby and the Secrets of Sleep (2/3)

First Public Reading, Romy, Roby and the Secrets of Sleep (3/3)

AI Snacks with Romy and Roby

@romyandroby

“Leading Through Disruption”

AI Edutainment

The AI Imperative Book

Romy & Roby Book

Substack