Ia, Cie, Italian ChatGpt and more. Here are the government’s digital news
From the decision to entrust the Agid and ACN agencies with powers over artificial intelligence to the relaunch of the electronic identity card, here are the government's next digital initiatives outlined by Undersecretary Butti
The government has chosen: Agency for Digital Italy and Agency for National Cybersecurity will be the " authorities " responsible for AI for Italy.
This is what Alessio Butti, undersecretary to the Prime Minister with responsibility for Innovation, anticipated in an interview with Sole 24 Ore in which he illustrated the main dossiers on which the government is working in the field of digital and innovation.
In the meantime, a bill on Artificial Intelligence will arrive before Easter: Butti announced it at the opening of the 17th edition of the RomeCup at the University of Tor Vergata. In his speech Butti also underlined the need for Italy to equip itself with its own generative AI models.
All the details.
BUTTI: AGID AND ACN ASSIGNED WITH THE ROLE OF SUPERVISORY ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
The AI Act, or the framework of European rules on artificial intelligence – approved just last week by the European Parliament – requires each country to introduce an AI supervisory authority. Therefore, Member States will have to choose whether to establish an ad hoc AI authority or whether to entrust the role to an already existing authority (or agency).
For some time, Undersecretary for Technological Innovation Butti had expressed the idea of entrusting the role of supervision of artificial intelligence to Agid, the office-agency created to coordinate the digitalisation of public administration. And therefore not the Guarantor Authority for personal data, as also hoped for by the European Data Protection Committee and the European Data Protection Supervisor already in 2021.
And today we have confirmation of this. “The choice – explained Butti to Sole 24 Ore – is to entrust the tasks of supervision and control over artificial intelligence to the Agency for Digital Italy and the National Cybersecurity Agency: it reflects a strategic vision focused on effectiveness and efficiency in AI governance. These agencies, with their specific focus on digital and cybersecurity, offer complementary and highly specialized technical and operational skills, essential to address the challenges posed by AI in the fields of citizenship, industry, security, data protection and overall defense and the national interest".
THE GOVERNMENT AIMS FOR POLITICAL AUTHORITY RATHER THAN AN INDEPENDENT AUTHORITY
Therefore the government has opted for a government agency (or rather two) rather than the choice of an independent authority (such as, for example, the Privacy Guarantor).
“Security, and the security strategy, must be the responsibility of the highest political authority, I am convinced that we will be able to represent it” explained Undersecretary Butti to RomeCup24, on the choice to entrust the Agency for Digital Italy and the National agency for cybersecurity supervision and control over artificial intelligence.
In today's interview with the Confindustria newspaper, the undersecretary justified the orientation of not entrusting these AI functions to an independent authority: "An independent authority could lack the specific technical competence and integration with the national digital system that Agid and ACN already own and operate. Both bodies, thanks to their experience and the integration they enjoy in the national context, offer coordinated and all-round control over AI, with an optimal balance between innovation and protection of rights”.
Therefore, for artificial intelligence, Italy will have not one, but two authorities competent in the same subject. Even if some experts had already expressed the fear that, with responsibility held by multiple subjects, "there would be a risk of overlapping competences between the various national authorities ".
SECOND BUTTI THE BILL ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS COMING BEFORE EASTER
Still on the subject of artificial intelligence, Butti declared to the Confindustria newspaper that "The bill on AI that could arrive in the council of ministers next week is placed in the context of the Strategy and reflects Italy's ambitious commitment, with the intent to place the country in an advanced position in the international comparison on the topic".
“We want to adopt the Strategy – added the undersecretary – and grow the applications addressed to Public Administrations and businesses but, as emerged at the G7 in Trento, looking at responsible growth, with man at the center and with an ethical approach that does not neglects any of the underrepresented social groups." “With this legislative initiative we aim to create and support an innovative path for companies, universities and research centers, for public administrations, looking at growth, but establishing control mechanisms that ensure the safe and advantageous development of AI”.
Afterwards, at the Tor Vergata event Butti recalled the important investment of 1 billion for artificial intelligence announced a few days ago by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, adding that there is also a further fund of around 800 million for investments in innovative start-ups.
THE ROLE OF STATE PARTNERSHIPS
According to the Undersecretary for Innovation, it is important to involve state-owned companies in AI: “State-owned companies represent a bridge between technological innovation and national interest and their involvement is fundamental for several reasons. As large companies, they can act as catalysts to pilot and implement innovative AI solutions that can then be scaled up nationwide. Second, by having direct access to vast data sets, state-owned companies are uniquely positioned to feed AI systems with valuable information.”
AN ITALIAN CHATGPT REQUIRED
Opening the event organized by the Fondazione Mondo Digitale, today Undersecretary Butti also highlighted that "Italy needs an Italian Large Language Model, our own generative AI model, a need felt by many companies and we have many projects, at least 5 university ones and many others from private individuals, in development". According to Butti, one of the needs that the creation of an Italian ChatGpt can respond to is data security because the current models of American or Asian companies are processed following different standards, incorporate linguistic and cultural prejudices different from ours and have different attention to privacy.
ON POST AND PAGOPA…
Moving on to another "hot" government dossier, in the Sole 24 Ore, Butti also returned to the sale without tender of PagoPa to Poligrafico e Poste (which received the Antitrust's rejection ): "At the moment, the Antitrust has underlined the problems relating to this step. His observations are now being examined by the Mef, which will provide the necessary answers. The logic behind this strategic choice is part of a broader framework of reforms aimed at enhancing the efficiency and accessibility of digital payment services for Italian citizens and businesses, trying to make the most of the synergies between technical skills and the vast territorial network of Poligrafico and Poste Italiane", the undersecretary pointed out.
THE GOVERNMENT RELAUNCHES CIE
Finally, the government has decided to relaunch the electronic identity card (CIE), which is not just an identity document, but a tool available to citizens that allows access to numerous digital services.
“Digitization? It already exists, or rather CIE already", this is the slogan of the communication campaign of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers which started yesterday to promote the use of the Electronic Identity Card (CIE), enabled by the CieID app, as a tool to access the digital services of the Public Administration in a simple and secure way.
“The Electronic Identity Card has been issued to over 43 million Italians, with more than 14 thousand administrations offering the possibility of accessing their digital services with the CIE. With this campaign we therefore want to promote the use of the CIE, the digital identity guaranteed by the State which, through the CieID app, offers the maximum level of security (level 3) in accessing online services, in line with what required by European Regulations and with what provides for the development of the IT Wallet, the Italian digital wallet system", explained the Undersecretary for Technological Innovation Alessio Butti.
The campaign is created by the Department for Digital Transformation, in collaboration with the Department for Information and Publishing and the Ministry of the Interior.
“We must encourage the use of the CIE – insisted the undersecretary Alessio Butti -, we need a boost from citizens”. For the moment, however, as Il Sole 24 Ore reminds us, the electronic identity card will not replace the Spid, but will be a further tool to facilitate bureaucratic procedures.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/dalle-agenzie-intelligenza-artificiale-alla-cie-le-novita-digitali-secondo-butti/ on Wed, 20 Mar 2024 15:37:22 +0000.