AI, Mattarella to the EU: ‘We need to move on to concrete decisions’

The 19th Cotec Symposium, dedicated to the relationship between artificial intelligence and work, brought together the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, King Felipe VI of Spain and the Portuguese President, António José Seguro, to address what the three leaders described, in no uncertain terms, as one of the defining challenges of our time. ECB President Christine Lagarde was among the guest speakers, and a trilateral memorandum on AI was signed during the proceedings.

The tone of the speeches was anything but celebratory. Felipe VI began by warning of the risk of a Europe that merely endures rather than takes the lead: ‘We cannot afford to be late. Because in a world like today’s, being late means being dependent on decisions taken by others.’

Mattarella elaborated on this argument from a political and institutional perspective. He observed that AI is unlike any previous technological revolution: it does not merely affect manual and repetitive tasks, but also ‘highly cognitive functions — information processing, writing, analysis, design, consultancy and decision-making support’.

A pervasiveness that raises a ‘clear issue of sovereignty’: the concentration of technological control “in the hands of a very small number of private entities”, said the Head of State, has given rise to actors who “claim to disregard, if not to override, every rule”, encroaching on areas “which until yesterday were the sole responsibility of states”.

For Mattarella, the answer can only be a European and practical one: ‘The EU must take a leap forward. It must move from stating principles to taking concrete decisions.’ And he made a direct appeal to member governments: ‘They must set aside their timidity and reservations and not stand in the way of joint action.’