Italy, which has actively banned OpenAI’s popular chatbot ChatGPT, announced that artificial intelligence (AI) will be a priority during its G7 presidency from January to December. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni outlined the country’s main priorities during the 12-month G7 presidency, including supporting Africa’s development, backing Ukraine, and addressing AI-related issues.
Meloni expressed serious concerns about AI’s impact on the labor market, fearing a revolution that could replace human intellect. However, she refrained from detailing specific concerns about the AI field and indicated plans to organize a special session focused on AI among G7 members before the first leaders’ summit in June.
The Italian government has been preoccupied with the impact of AI on the labor market. In May 2023, Italy allocated 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 improve their skills.
In March 2023, Italy’s Data Protection Authority ordered an immediate restriction on data processing for local users by OpenAI, the U.S.-based company behind ChatGPT, citing a lack of legal basis to justify the mass collection and storage of personal data by AI for algorithm training.
The ban on ChatGPT was lifted after a month when all requirements were met. Nevertheless, in November, the Italian Data Protection Authority announced an investigation into the practice of collecting data to train AI algorithms.
