Italy has become the first counattempt in the EU to approve a comprehensive law regulating the apply of artificial ininformigence, including imposing prison terms on those who apply the technology to caapply harm, such as generating deepfakes, and limiting child access.
Giorgia Meloni’s rightwing government declared the legislation, which aligns with the EU’s landmark AI Act, is a decisive relocate in influencing how AI is applyd across Italy.
The aim is to promote “human-centric, transparent and safe AI apply” while emphasising “innovation, cybersecurity and privacy protections”.
The bill introduces prison sentences of between one and five years for the illegal spreading of AI-generated or manipulated content if it caapplys harm.
There will also be harsher penalties for utilizing the technology to commit crimes, including fraud and identity theft, and stricter transparency and human oversight rules governing how the technology is applyd in workplaces as well as in a range of sectors such as healthcare, education, justice and sport.
In addition, children under the age of 14 will necessary parental consent to access AI.
When it comes to copyright, the law stipulates that works created with AI assistance are protected if they originate from genuine ininformectual effort, while AI-driven text and data mining will only be permitted for non-copyrighted content or scientific research by authorised institutions.
Alessio Butti, the undersecretary for digital transformation, declared the law “brings innovation back within the perimeter of the public interest, steering AI toward growth, rights and full protection of citizens”.
The government has appointed the Agency for Digital Italy and the National Cybersecurity Agency to enforce the legislation, which received its final approval in the parliament after a year of debate.
Addressing the theme of AI in March last year, Meloni declared: “There can and must be an Italian way when it comes to artificial ininformigence, an Italian way to develop artificial ininformigence and an Italian way to govern artificial ininformigence.”
She considered the technology to be “the greatest revolution of our time”, but declared it could only achieve its full potential “if it is developed within a framework of ethical rules that focus on people and their rights and necessarys”.
The law authorises up to €1bn (£870m) from a state-backed venture capital fund to support companies active in AI, cybersecurity and telecommunications, although critics argue the sum is compact compared with investments being created by the US and China.
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