Milan is bidding to host a UN agency dedicated to AI

A broad cross-section of representatives from institutions, the business community and the research sector gathered on 9 November in the Conference Hall of Palazzo Turati in Milan to support the city’s bid to host the headquarters of a UN agency dedicated to the governance of artificial intelligence. The proposal, drawn up by the American Chamber of Commerce in Italy, Assolombarda and Conf-commercio Milano Lodi Monza Brianza, had been presented on 12 October with a detailed manifesto. Yesterday’s event served as a review meeting, resulting in unanimous backing from representatives of industrial and commercial enterprises, scientific and humanities research centres, the regional government and the city council. The President of the Senate, Ignazio La Russa, and Undersecretary Alessio Butti conveyed messages of support from Parliament and the government. It is now expected that a cross-party parliamentary motion will soon be tabled and that the procedure to formalise Italy’s candidacy will be initiated. Silvio Savarese, Chief Scientist at Salesforce AI Research and a member of the United Nations’ Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence, said that the proposal will subsequently have to be submitted to the UN, with the backing of the Italian government and the European Commission.

What is this agency supposed to do? “To provide direction for the development of artificial intelligence,” Alvise Biffi, president of Assolombarda, tells *Il Sole 24 Ore*. “Lombardy is one of the most heavily industrialised regions in Europe. Establishing an agency in Milan to provide a framework for artificial intelligence addresses the need to tackle, in practical terms, the impact of this technology on work, production and daily life, and to uphold the need to keep humans in control of the system.”

The aim is to find a consensual approach to developing standards for measuring the quality of models and defining criteria for assessing the human impact of artificial intelligence.

“Cognitive capital is lost if humans delegate thinking to machines,” points out Giuseppe Riva, Director of the Humane Technology Lab at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart: “It is a problem for individuals, but also for businesses. If business functions are delegated to artificial intelligence, companies all start to look the same and competitiveness risks being lost: because it is people who make the difference.”

Indeed, the need to establish governance over artificial intelligence has never been clearer. It is the major developers themselves – from Anthropic to OpenAI – who are highlighting the dangers of uncontrolled technological developments. The Americans are proposing self-regulation. At the UN, however, the view is that it would be better to establish independent benchmarks, separate from the major manufacturers, to assess the quality and risk levels of the models. Milan is seeking to contribute to this crucial debate.