Italian President Sergio Mattarella called for swift regulation of artificial intelligence at the opening ceremony of the Festival of Regions on 26 October, warning that its uncontrolled use and the spread of false news could put democracy at risk, Anadolu Agency reported. The festival brings together Italy’s regional administrations each year, and the presidency is a largely ceremonial office, Türkiye Today reported. Mattarella’s appeal was for action by those who regulate the technology, rather than an announcement of a measure by his office.
Key points
- Mattarella urged swift action against improper and uncontrolled AI use and called for regulation to be put in place.
- He warned that false news spread online can influence how people form opinions and make choices.
- He also called for limits on competition among a small number of players whose technological outcomes, he said, science cannot yet predict.
Mattarella calls for AI regulation
“We must act swiftly and effectively to prevent the improper and uncontrolled use” of artificial intelligence, Mattarella said at the ceremony, according to Anadolu Agency. He called for regulation to be established and put into effect. The appeal concerned how AI is used, as well as the development of the technology itself.
Mattarella also raised the prospect of losing control over technological processes as models develop through machine learning. That concern sat alongside his call for rules: he described a risk arising from the way systems are developed, rather than only from what people might do with them after deployment.
False news and public choices
On information, Mattarella warned that manipulation through the internet, including the spread of false news, can affect public opinion and people’s choices. His warning was about a possible influence on democratic decision-making. It did not depend on a claim that any particular vote or public debate had already been altered.
“Already today, it is evident how the manipulation of information, including through the spread of false news using the capabilities offered by the internet, can influence public opinion and shape its views and choices,” he said, according to Anadolu Agency. The warning joined his concern about AI use to a broader problem of information reaching the public online.
Competition among a limited number of players
Mattarella called for restraints on increasingly intense competition among a limited number of players. He said science could not currently predict the outcomes of that competition. His argument extended beyond false news to the pace and concentration of technological development.
He connected that competition to the expansion of computing power. “If we limited ourselves to being spectators of the expansion of computing power in every direction, the fundamental values of the centrality of human life and, at the same time, our democracy could be undermined,” Mattarella said, according to Türkiye Today.
