The just-concluded G7 in Puglia aims to be a turning point in the global discussion on ethics in the use of AI. Artificial Intelligence continues to be at the centre of international political debate. Already during the G7 intergovernmental forum on industry and technology, held in Trento last March, leaders had addressed the importance of establishing international standards to regulate and promote responsible use on a global scale and foster innovation in a fair and safe manner.

During the Trento summit, the seven most advanced economies on the planet had discussed and defined the main points of a method to establish common standards leading to an international code of conduct for AI and laid the foundations for a shared dialogue to create effective European regulations.

In the meantime, the European Community began the first activities to implement the AI Act with the definition of the transnational and national bodies that will have the task of supervising the new rules, while with the implementation of the Digital Services Act, the first checks on the risks of generative AI and profiling for advertising are starting to be carried out, while private investment opportunities are multiplying thanks to the regulatory action provided by the legislation.

What’s new at the G7, between Trento and Borgo Egnazia

“AI can play a crucial role in social and economic development, but only if it is secure and reliable. Assured this premise, applications and services based on Artificial Intelligence can generally foster a Digital Transformation that brings the most expected benefits while limiting the associated risks as much as possible.” These are the first lines of the paragraph dedicated to Ai in the official document “Apulia G7 Leaders’ Communiqué”, a clear sign of the importance of the topic during the international summit.

Already during the Trento meeting under the Italian Presidency, Italy had shown itself to be an active participant in the discussion, pledging, among other things, to develop strategies on the use of algorithms in public services and to produce a compendium on digital public services.

The Italian presidency is therefore committed to integrating the results of the Hiroshima Process on Artificial Intelligence (HAIP) to develop, together with stakeholders, appropriate mechanisms for monitoring the voluntary adoption of the “International Code of Conduct for Organisations Developing Advanced AI Systems“.

As already emphasised in Trento, Puglia also spoke of combating a fragmented Internet model, seen as an obstacle to its global functions, a goal to be achieved by “actively cooperating” with all stakeholders.

Another fundamental aspect is the establishment of a working group on chips, which will have to concern itself with research developments and industrial needs with the aim of not being unprepared in the event of any bottlenecks in non-European production.

And precisely in order to support increasingly European production of microchips, the European Union has earmarked EUR 43 billion in public and private investment to support the industry of this technology under the Chips Act.

As was the case in Trento, the recent G7 expressed as a priority the need for AI to be developed and used ethically and in line with the principles and values that underpin our democracies, for the good of citizens and for the cohesion, resilience, welfare and well-being of societies and economies.

Where do we stand with the AI Act

A few months after the approval of the AI Act, i.e. the EU regulation on artificial intelligence, the organisational structures for its implementation are beginning to take shape, structures that will employ about 100 people when fully operational.

The first element being worked on is an AI Council, consisting of one representative from each country and divided into two sub-groups, one dedicated to market surveillance and one to notifications from the authorities. This new body is to assist the Commission in enforcing the rules and can in turn rely on a board of technical advisors and an independent committee of scientists and experts.

Through its coordination, risk control, promotion of innovation and confidence in AI, it will identify priority areas for the development of this technology by indirectly providing guidance to private investors on where returns are most likely to arise. This can help direct investments towards projects with the greatest potential for impact and success.

On the other hand, the task of monitoring that the AI Act is uniformly applied by all EU states will be entrusted to an AI Office, which will be in charge of investigating violations, establishing codes of conduct and classifying artificial intelligence models that pose a systemic risk.

Another important step concerns the definition of the rules of the sandboxes, i.e. the test environments that are compulsorily required from each State, for the management of which two million euro of funding is planned.

The various critical issues that should regulate the AI Act in Italy will be managed by different authorities, for the use of biometric recognition systems in real time the reference will be the National Personal Data Protection Authority, the Consob for finance, and for critical infrastructures the control will be entrusted to the National Cybersecurity Authority, but all these bodies will be coordinated by the Agency for Digital Italy.

From a business perspective, the introduction of the AI Act represents a unique opportunity to renew and unlock new levels of growth through a favourable regulatory environment that encourages the adoption of Artificial Intelligence.

Companies that are able to make the most of this technology will benefit with the potential to create new jobs, increase productivity and push Europe to the forefront of technological innovation.

How Europe intends to enforce the rules with the Digital Service Act

The Digital Services Act (DSA) is a package of European rules on digital services that became law for all last February. It imposes transparency on algorithms and advertising, combats online violence and disinformation, deals with the protection of minors, and curbs user profiling. It concerns cloud and hosting providers, search engines, e-commerce and online services and, in general, all online intermediaries who will have to comply with the rules.

In this context, the European Commission has sent formal requests to the major online search engines and the most important social media to find out what their measures are to mitigate the risks linked to generative artificial intelligence, i.e. inaccurate information, the viral spread of deepfakes and the automated manipulation of services that can mislead web surfers, with a particular focus on voters during election campaigns.

But even e-commerce platforms are not immune to scrutiny because the Digital Service Act also serves to ensure the removal of illegal or dangerous products sold in the EU.

This is why the Commission is investigating one of the world’s most important ones by assessing its business practices in the fields of risk management and mitigation, content moderation and internal complaint handling mechanism, transparency of advertising and recommendation systems, traceability of traders and access to data for researchers.

Artificial Intelligence and the Italian government’s investments

The European authorities and EU states are therefore increasingly aware of the risks of new technologies and are striving to form government and control bodies that are able to guide their development by meeting the need to ensure their ethical and responsible use and guarantee transparency, security and respect for fundamental rights. And Italy is not standing idly by, since it is taking the first steps towards the adoption of a law regulating its use and promoting its correct, transparent and responsible use, in an anthropocentric dimension, aimed at seizing the opportunities of artificial intelligence. A commitment that gives the state a crucial role in the process of developing these systems and that also includes, within the strategy for the development of artificial intelligence, the venture capital activity of the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy, i.e. the purchase of stakes of up to the total amount of one billion euros, in Small and Medium Enterprises operating in the field of new technologies, quantum computing and telecommunications, all of which have a high development potential. And again through the development of AI, Italy can become the cradle for the growth of new entrepreneurial talents not only from Italy but also from abroad.