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Italy, one of the first European countries to effectively ban OpenAI’s popular chatbot ChatGPT, announced that artificial intelligence (AI) will be one of the priorities during its G7 presidency, which will last from January to December.
Italy’s Move on Artificial Intelligence
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, in a press conference on December 4, 2023, summarized the country’s main priorities during the 12-month G7 presidency. These priorities include supporting the development of Africa, supporting Ukraine, and addressing issues related to artificial intelligence. Meloni expressed her concerns about the challenges created by artificial intelligence:
“I am extremely concerned about the impact of artificial intelligence on the labor market. We are facing a revolution that today threatens to replace the human mind.”
The Italian Prime Minister avoided going into detail about her specific concerns regarding the field of artificial intelligence and revealed her intention to organize a special session focused on artificial intelligence among G7 members before the first leaders’ summit in June.
The Process Between Italy and ChatGPT
The impact of artificial intelligence on the labor market and its subject matter continues to occupy the Italian government. In May 2023, the country took a notable step by allocating 30 million euros to the Fondo per la Repubblica Digitale (FRD) to help the unemployed and those in sectors at risk of automation and AI takeover to develop their skills.
In March 2023, the Italian Data Protection Authority ordered the immediate restriction of data processing for local users by OpenAI, the US-based company behind ChatGPT. The Authority also highlighted the lack of legal basis to justify the mass collection and storage of personal data by artificial intelligence for training its algorithms.
The ban on ChatGPT was lifted a month later once all requirements were met. However, in November, the Italian Data Protection Authority announced the start of a fact-finding “investigation” to review the practice of data collection for training AI algorithms.
