Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced on Tuesday the launch of a billion-euro investment fund for artificial intelligence (AI) projects, while calling for "
ethical rules
" in the use of this technology.
Giorgia Meloni was speaking in a video message to an AI congress in Rome, two days before Italy hosts and chairs a G7 ministerial summit on the theme.
This investment fund, which will include both new resources and existing funds, is intended to attract new investments with the aim of creating “
an Italian path of AI development
,” she said.
The Prime Minister also declared that Rome was working on national regulations, complementary to the European legislation currently being developed, to “
establish some principles
” and identify ways to promote the development of national champions.
“
It is a technology that can release all of its positive potential only if its development is carried out within the framework of a scope of ethical rules putting people, their rights and their needs at the center
,” she said.
The rapid development of AI has become a cause for concern, amplified by the launch in 2022 of ChatGPT, which took so-called generative AI out of the laboratories, and conquered the planet with this new wave of computing which makes it possible to produce texts, images, sounds and lines of code on simple request in everyday language.
According to Giorgia Meloni, AI will be a priority of the Italian G7 presidency this year.
At a ministerial meeting of this group in Verona and Trento (north) on Thursday and Friday, Rome hopes to work towards creating "
a toolbox for the ethical and human-centered development and use of all AI systems in the public domain
.
Italy is also seeking to develop “
appropriate voluntary monitoring mechanisms
” for a non-binding code of conduct adopted by the G7 last year for companies developing the most advanced AI systems.