The evolution of Giorgia Meloni: Her plan for Italy and fears of AI

Ms Giorgia Meloni has repeatedly broken new ground since she started out in politics at 15. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Ms Giorgia Meloni, like everyone else on the planet, is trying to work out what to do about artificial intelligence.

In some ways the Italian prime minister is old school. She still writes campaign speeches by hand, as the ink stains on her manicured fingers can attest – fountain pens have a tendency to explode on planes, she jokes. But she is acutely aware of her responsibilities.

She leads a country that struggles to achieve growth past 1 per cent, and she is clear-eyed about the transformative period into which the global economy has been plunged by disruptive new technologies.

Ms Meloni’s strategy of keeping it steady has convinced foreign investors, galvanised voters and helped Italy to navigate the turbulence of US President Donald Trump’s return to the White House. But she is aware that she might not be able to handle the impact of AI, and perhaps no government can.

“Politics is moving too slowly and artificial intelligence is advancing very quickly,” she says in an interview in the 16th century Chigi Palace in Rome, surrounded by artifacts from Italy’s storied past. “I see enormous risks.”

“I fear that we are not understanding many of the processes that are being generated,” she says. “I fear that when we do understand them, it will be too late.”