ROME — Italy’s technology agenda is increasingly looking beyond Europe’s borders.
Alessio Butti, Italy’s undersecretary for technological innovation, in an op-ed for Milano Finanza argues that governing artificial intelligence cannot stop at national — or even European — regulation. The next step, in his view, is an international framework bringing together AI, quantum technologies, cybersecurity, energy and digital infrastructure.
His central argument is straightforward: AI should not be treated as an autonomous force whose decisions humans simply accept.
- “Saying that AI could get out of hand cannot become a way to avoid the consequences of one’s own choices,” Butti writes.
Why it matters: Butti’s intervention gives an international dimension to a debate that has been gaining prominence inside the Italian government.
- His position comes shortly after a mission to the United States that included talks in New York on quantum technologies, part of Rome’s effort to deepen technological cooperation with Washington.
- It also intersects with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s recent warning on AI: for democratic countries, technological competition is not only about keeping pace with faster-moving rivals. It is also about doing so without giving up safeguards, accountability and democratic principles.
- Butti’s answer is to combine rules at home with cooperation abroad.
The big picture: The starting point of Butti’s argument is human responsibility.
- He rejects the idea that technology itself can carry moral responsibility. AI systems are designed by companies and people who decide how they are built, what checks are performed and when products are released.
- The same principle applies to social media. Butti points to the tension between age restrictions and the reality that platforms cannot simply absolve themselves of responsibility when minors circumvent them.
- For AI, that means humans must remain accountable for decisions made throughout a system’s lifecycle.
Zoom in: Italy’s approach. Butti presents Italy’s recently approved AI law as an attempt to translate that principle into policy.
- The legislation, he writes, places human responsibility at the center of decisions entrusted to technology. It also strengthens safeguards against deepfakes by providing for sanctions when their illicit use aggravates crimes.
- The law also establishes governance rules for the public sector, placing data and safeguards at the center of the framework.
- Butti describes the approach as a balance between innovation and oversight: companies need to know which rules apply and what to expect, while citizens need to know whom they can turn to when something goes wrong.
Europe isn’t enough: Butti argues that regulation alone will not determine whether Europe can shape the AI era.
- Technological sovereignty, in his formulation, also requires access to computing capacity, energy, semiconductors, networks and digital infrastructure.
- It requires security standards and audits for AI systems, protection of strategic infrastructure and controls over strategic data. And it requires rules capable of supporting technological independence rather than merely constraining innovation. That is where the argument becomes geopolitical.
- Italy’s approach, Butti writes, could contribute to technologies that make AI “trustworthy” — but international cooperation is needed to make that model viable beyond Europe.
The U.S. connection. Butti points directly to his recent U.S. mission as evidence of where Rome wants to take the conversation.
- During meetings in the United States, he says a “concrete convergence” emerged around the need to confront AI, quantum, cybersecurity, energy and infrastructure together rather than as separate policy silos. His proposed next step is an international framework.
- Butti sketches a potential “Charter” that would integrate high-performance computing, cybersecurity and energy, while becoming a platform for developing European models that are both trustworthy and competitive.
- The cooperation he envisages could extend from logistics and predictive maintenance to energy management, quantum, 6G, secure and interoperable satellites, and semiconductors.
Between the lines: The framework mirrors the tension highlighted by Meloni: democratic governments want technological scale and competitiveness, but they also want to preserve accountability and political control over how technology is deployed.
- Butti puts the emphasis on cooperation with the United States and other partners rather than choosing between innovation and regulation.
- “Regulating, investing and cooperating with allies is our line,” he writes.
The bottom line: For Butti, the international AI contest is not simply about who develops the most powerful models.
- It is also about who builds the computing power, energy systems, chips, networks and security architecture behind them — and who sets the rules governing their use.
- His prescription for Italy and Europe is therefore both technological and political: innovate without surrendering human responsibility, build the infrastructure needed to compete, and work with allies to establish shared rules before technological standards are set elsewhere.
