Giorgia Meloni and Joe Biden
AI, Microsoft ready to invest in France. Meloni's fury against Biden
Artificial intelligence is not mentioned in the official White House statement regarding the meeting scheduled for Friday between President Biden and Italian Prime Minister Meloni. However, it is one of the key issues that Palazzo Chigi intends to address in view of the G7 in June, for at least two reasons. First, the government believes it is necessary to regulate this industry before reality exceeds expectations and becomes uncontrollable. Secondly, the rivalry with France could create confusion on the management of the dossier, as has often happened in our recent and remote history. Rome has highlighted AI on the G7 agenda, considering it the most suitable place to address it the issue, uniting European, American and Asian sensitivities, as reported by La Repubblica.
On the other hand, Paris wishes to assert its leadership at least at a continental level, as demonstrated by Microsoft's €2 billion investment in the French startup Mistral, announced during the AI Safety Summit meeting to be held in November, during the Italian presidency of the G7. The visit to Washington is very delicate, especially because Meloni does not want to irritate the Republicans, who could be in power in the White House in a year. Therefore, it will be clear that this is a mission related to the G7 agenda and not a bilateral meeting, like the one last July when she was still Italian leader. The prime minister will mainly talk about four priorities.
The first concerns Ukraine. NoDespite some resistance from her majority and skepticism in the United States, Meloni has committed herself to this front. She will ask Biden not to abandon European allies, supporting the aid package hindered by Republicans. The United States intends to use the funds seized from Russia, asking the Europeans to exceed their reserves. The goal is to negotiate from a position of strength, not from current conditions favorable to Putin. We therefore need a rapid arrival of military supplies, including long-range missiles, before spring.
Africa is mentioned in the White House statement because Rome attaches great importance to this region. Although the Mattei Plan is still being developed, Italy is concerned about the US disengagement on the continent, considering the growing influence of China and Russia. Trump's possible return to the White House could hand Africa over to rivals if Washington does not intervene now.
Finally, Artificial Intelligence remains a point of interest. The United States remains dominant, as highlighted by Open AI. During a recent meeting with Bill Gates, Meloni stressed the need for rules before the unbridled development of AI. Italy hopes that the G7 will take on this responsibility, but is worried about France's competition with the November summit. As happened in 1975 when President Ford convinced Giscard to invite Rome to the first summit of the greats in Rambouillet, now it is hoped that Biden will use his leadership to convince Macron to favor common interests over particular ones.
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