Why it matters: In a message to the event “AI and Work: governing the transformation, multiplying opportunities,” Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni outlined Italy’s approach to artificial intelligence: development steered by ethical rules, investment in skills, and safeguards for job quality.
From Rome: In a written address, Meloni described AI as the most disruptive revolution of our time, capable of replacing not physical labor but intellectual work, with direct risks for the middle class if the process is not governed.
What she said:
- “I is a technology that can unleash its full positive potential only if its development moves within a framework of ethical rules that put the person, their rights, and their needs at the center.”
- “If this process is not governed, more and more workers risk becoming useless and the scenario ahead is one of a progressive impoverishment of the middle ”
Italy’s strategy:
- Skills: training, reskilling, and upskilling programs to close the mismatch between businesses and workers.
- Job quality: using AI to improve safety, organization, and reduce repetitive tasks.
- Rules: algorithmic transparency, data protection, non-discrimination, and defense of copyright.
The context: Italy has adopted a national AI law and established an Observatory on AI adoption in the workplace within the Ministry of Labor. During its G7 presidency, Rome also promoted an Action Plan on the use of AI in the world of work.
- Yesterday, Italy unveiled a new national strategy to rapidly integrate AI across its defense system, aiming to boost operational capabilities and close technological gaps. The plan positions Rome as a stronger, more credible player within NATO and the EU while emphasizing ethical use, human control, and technological sovereignty.
- AI and its applications are also at the center of a confrontation between Anthropic and the Department of Defense that could significantly reshape the sector’s dynamics.
Between the lines: The Italian government aims to attract investment, strengthen digital infrastructure, and support research and experimentation to build a national innovation ecosystem and an “Italian way” to artificial intelligence.
What to watch: Meloni called on institutions, businesses, and social partners to share responsibility in anticipating AI’s impacts and turning them into economic and employment opportunities.
(Photo: X, @MinLavoro)
