A decision to appoint an 85-year-old as Italy’s AI tsar has caused bafflement and stoked political tensions within the ruling coalition.
Giuliano Amato, a former prime minister and head of the constitutional court with no apparent IT expertise, will lead a new commission to assess the risks posed by the technology.
As Italy confronts the brave new world of Artificial Intelligence, critics suggested that Mr Amato might struggle to Google AI, let alone understand the fast-moving challenges of algorithms, machine learning and ChatGPT.
The choice of Mr Amato was unfavourably compared with his equivalent in Britain – 41-year-old Ian Hogarth, a Cambridge-educated computer science expert and tech entrepreneur who founded several start-ups and made a fortune investing in AI companies.
A leading authority on AI, Mr Hogarth was in June appointed the head of a £100 million taskforce looking into the risks surrounding AI, with Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, pledging to make the UK a global leader in AI regulation.
An opposition MP described Mr Amato as a “dinosaur” who should not have been selected for the job.
“Under this government, we are becoming a country that is unable to take into consideration our young people, a dinosaur-ocracy stuck in an outdated and conservative vision,” said Emma Pavanelli, an MP with the Five Star Movement.
The appointment was “absurd”, especially in comparison to the British decision to appoint an expert with bona fide credentials such as Mr Hogarth, she said.
there’s always the Amato option, for any possible available position
Don’t worry, statistically this guy is already a pile of dust so no need to get your panties in a bunch.
AI has existed in some form since the 50’ies, and this guy had all this time to be thinking of it.
They contrast him to the UK, who appointed a guy who made a fortune investing in AI. Sure, he won’t be biased at all and will for sure not make regulations that benefit his investments.
Probably they chose him because they own him a solid, he knows a few things about lawmaking, and he has ample experience, but at 85… he has no knowledge about computer science, and he must rely on a cohort of experts, with >80 Y/O it doesn’t look good.
We wont get rid of Amato until he dies, he has always 3-4 seats in top level positions, he’s a relic of the old republic and probably has so many ugly stuff on all the current politicians that they cant leave him behind or mess will ensue.
Remind me of the cyber security minister of Japan who never used a computer.
People over 75 or 80 should not be allowed to vote or participate in politics, just like how under 18s cannot either. Leaving aside the arguments about declining cognitive abilities and other woes that come with age, these people do not even have a stake in the future that they are supposed to be bringing about, and are more likely to be stuck with obsolete ideas from the past
You foreigners need to understand that in Italy there are several figures that they will always be placed around in positions of powers until they die, regardless of their age and qualifications. Amato is one of these. He has done it all and was up to be elected for all.
It’s AI now, it could have been for the constitutional court or the civil protection. It doesn’t really matter. Most likely he’ll hold the title and not do much, if he even shows up at all.
“Ask not what you can do for the AI commission, ask what the AI commission can do for you.”
AI by its nature is racist because it does not know complex relations people peoples and also can just perpetuate racial stereotypes. It should be outright banned.
_Do I know what it is!? I was there when it was written!_
How the fuck is this fucker still around? Power makes you immortal? Just get fucking lost,
You may laugh (or cry) but with the government we have Amato may very well unironically have been one of the least bad picks for the position lol.
Even if he knows what google is, that doesn’t mean he’ll do the right things: e.g. Thierry Breton (EU Commissioner) is relatively tech savvy (formerly of Bull, France Telecom and ATOS) … and so far seems like he’s mostly aggressively pushed for a great big serving of China-like Internet surveillance and censorship across the EU, dressed up in fancy positive-sounding language and propaganda.
If they’re going to be evil either way, incompetent and ineffective evil or competent and effective evil?
I’m sorry, but as with all other jobs – there NEEDS to be a retirement age in politics.
And then they wonder why Italy has fallen so far behind.
“Giuliano Amato, a former prime minister and head of the constitutional court with no apparent IT expertise, will lead a new commission to assess the risks posed by the technology.”
His task is to evaluate the risks from a legal point of view, not technical, so I must assume most critics didn’t read.
If I want to get advisement about laws, I go to a lawyer.
If I want to get advisement about AI, I go to AI expert.
What’s the problem? His age? If he’s capable then I see no problems.
Plot twist: decisions and statements will be produced by an AI deep language model based on this person’s entire recorded lifetime.
Reminds me of japan when they placed a 65 yearold man who never even used a computer as chief of cyber security.
I thought the UK messed up when we appointed our health security as a overweight woman who smokes.
22 comments
**From The Telegraph’s Nick Squires in Rome:**
A decision to appoint an 85-year-old as Italy’s AI tsar has caused bafflement and stoked political tensions within the ruling coalition.
Giuliano Amato, a former prime minister and head of the constitutional court with no apparent IT expertise, will lead a new commission to assess the risks posed by the technology.
As Italy confronts the brave new world of Artificial Intelligence, critics suggested that Mr Amato might struggle to Google AI, let alone understand the fast-moving challenges of algorithms, machine learning and ChatGPT.
The choice of Mr Amato was unfavourably compared with his equivalent in Britain – 41-year-old Ian Hogarth, a Cambridge-educated computer science expert and tech entrepreneur who founded several start-ups and made a fortune investing in AI companies.
A leading authority on AI, Mr Hogarth was in June appointed the head of a £100 million taskforce looking into the risks surrounding AI, with Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, pledging to make the UK a global leader in AI regulation.
An opposition MP described Mr Amato as a “dinosaur” who should not have been selected for the job.
“Under this government, we are becoming a country that is unable to take into consideration our young people, a dinosaur-ocracy stuck in an outdated and conservative vision,” said Emma Pavanelli, an MP with the Five Star Movement.
The appointment was “absurd”, especially in comparison to the British decision to appoint an expert with bona fide credentials such as Mr Hogarth, she said.
**Read more ⤵️**
[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/10/25/giuliano-amato-italy-ai-tsar-85-years-old/](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/10/25/giuliano-amato-italy-ai-tsar-85-years-old/)
“Old Man Yells at AI”
there’s always the Amato option, for any possible available position
Don’t worry, statistically this guy is already a pile of dust so no need to get your panties in a bunch.
AI has existed in some form since the 50’ies, and this guy had all this time to be thinking of it.
They contrast him to the UK, who appointed a guy who made a fortune investing in AI. Sure, he won’t be biased at all and will for sure not make regulations that benefit his investments.
Probably they chose him because they own him a solid, he knows a few things about lawmaking, and he has ample experience, but at 85… he has no knowledge about computer science, and he must rely on a cohort of experts, with >80 Y/O it doesn’t look good.
We wont get rid of Amato until he dies, he has always 3-4 seats in top level positions, he’s a relic of the old republic and probably has so many ugly stuff on all the current politicians that they cant leave him behind or mess will ensue.
Remind me of the cyber security minister of Japan who never used a computer.
People over 75 or 80 should not be allowed to vote or participate in politics, just like how under 18s cannot either. Leaving aside the arguments about declining cognitive abilities and other woes that come with age, these people do not even have a stake in the future that they are supposed to be bringing about, and are more likely to be stuck with obsolete ideas from the past
You foreigners need to understand that in Italy there are several figures that they will always be placed around in positions of powers until they die, regardless of their age and qualifications. Amato is one of these. He has done it all and was up to be elected for all.
It’s AI now, it could have been for the constitutional court or the civil protection. It doesn’t really matter. Most likely he’ll hold the title and not do much, if he even shows up at all.
“Ask not what you can do for the AI commission, ask what the AI commission can do for you.”
AI by its nature is racist because it does not know complex relations people peoples and also can just perpetuate racial stereotypes. It should be outright banned.
_Do I know what it is!? I was there when it was written!_
How the fuck is this fucker still around? Power makes you immortal? Just get fucking lost,
You may laugh (or cry) but with the government we have Amato may very well unironically have been one of the least bad picks for the position lol.
Even if he knows what google is, that doesn’t mean he’ll do the right things: e.g. Thierry Breton (EU Commissioner) is relatively tech savvy (formerly of Bull, France Telecom and ATOS) … and so far seems like he’s mostly aggressively pushed for a great big serving of China-like Internet surveillance and censorship across the EU, dressed up in fancy positive-sounding language and propaganda.
If they’re going to be evil either way, incompetent and ineffective evil or competent and effective evil?
I’m sorry, but as with all other jobs – there NEEDS to be a retirement age in politics.
And then they wonder why Italy has fallen so far behind.
“Giuliano Amato, a former prime minister and head of the constitutional court with no apparent IT expertise, will lead a new commission to assess the risks posed by the technology.”
His task is to evaluate the risks from a legal point of view, not technical, so I must assume most critics didn’t read.
If I want to get advisement about laws, I go to a lawyer.
If I want to get advisement about AI, I go to AI expert.
What’s the problem? His age? If he’s capable then I see no problems.
Plot twist: decisions and statements will be produced by an AI deep language model based on this person’s entire recorded lifetime.
Reminds me of japan when they placed a 65 yearold man who never even used a computer as chief of cyber security.
I thought the UK messed up when we appointed our health security as a overweight woman who smokes.