Giorgia Meloni, Chair of the Council of Ministers, spoke today at the AI Seoul Summit co-hosted by South Korean President Yoon Seok-Yeol and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. , through video messages. Also in attendance were the leaders of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, South Korea and Singapore, as well as the Vice President of the United States and the Vice President of the European Commission.
The conference was held remotely and expanded the scope of the discussion as the first follow-up to the AI Safety Summit held on November 1-2, 2023 at Bletchley Park, UK. The summit was also attended by the heads of some of the world's largest technology companies.
Dear Yun, Dear Rishi,
First of all, thank you for organizing this summit, which advances the work we started together at Bletchley Park last November.
Artificial intelligence is a serious challenge for society as a whole. We are facing a new frontier of progress that poses an unprecedented threat to challenge the very principles of anthropocentrism.
Compared to other revolutions in history, generative AI foresees a world where progress no longer optimizes human capabilities, but replaces them. And if in the past such substitutions were primarily concerned with manual labor and were done in order to allow people to devote themselves to intellectual and organizational activities, now our very intellect is are at risk of being replaced.
Left unchecked, the effects will be inevitable, even for the most highly skilled professionals. It could render an ever-increasing number of workers useless. Wealth would risk becoming even more concentrated and verticalized than it is today. And the middle class, the backbone of our society, could disappear.
There is no doubt that the geopolitical scenario and current account balance will also be influenced by artificial intelligence, as it can ensure competitive advantages for those who manage and use it.
History has shown that tensions and even conflicts arise from competition aimed at gaining such competitive advantages and the gap between those who gained such advantages and those who, conversely, fell behind. We tell you what can happen. Therefore, there is a need to jointly build global governance mechanisms while respecting the different approaches implemented in single-state realities.
This is a challenge for everyone. Governments are required to identify and agree a common approach within a multilateral framework. And above all, for businesses and the private sector, which need to focus on risk management, accountability and transparency.
To ensure that AI development is human-scaled, human-controlled, human-centered, and its ultimate goal is “human,” governments and businesses, both the public and private sectors, must work together and collaborate. Building alliances is important.
This is also why Italy, which holds the G7 Presidency, has identified artificial intelligence as one of its priorities. At the G7 Leaders' Summit in Puglia, we are honored to host Pope Francis for an “outreach” session dedicated to artificial intelligence. For the first time in history, a Pope will participate in G7 activities, and I am confident that his presence will make a decisive contribution to defining the regulatory, ethical and cultural framework on this topic.
But we are also committed, always within the context of the G7, to launching an action plan on the use of AI in the labor market. Because sooner or later such technologies will touch the entire world of work, enterprises and production, with a different focus. It is not limited to a good technical profile. Innovation, regulation and safety must go hand in hand.
We have done great work at Bletchley Park, particularly around an agreed definition of safety testing for business, and I believe this summit will enable us to take an important step forward.
Since AI languages are adaptable and rapidly evolving, we need to ensure that the same adaptability and rapid pace of change is ensured so that the risks that may arise from the development of AI do not prevent us from seizing its great opportunities. is needed.
This is not an easy challenge, but as always, we are ready to play our part without hesitation.
Thank you Yun, thank you Rishi, and thank you everyone for your hard work!