Parisi, 'bring AI research and investments back to the public'

"The main thing is that we need to understand exactly what is happening inside companies. Until ten years ago, research on artificial intelligence was done in universities and public institutions and we knew exactly what was being done, but today it has become an industrial secret. We need to bring the research back into the public, so large public investments are needed at a European level, also to be able to predict what can happen, which we cannot do now. If this cannot be done, then I would be worried." Nobel Prize winner for physics Giorgio Parisi said this on the sidelines of the ceremony for the awarding of the honorary degree by the University of Eastern Piedmont.

A theme that is also linked to the regulatory one. "The current legislation is not sufficient - says Parisi -, but in order to have effective legislation we must know how things work, but obviously we cannot ask consultants from private companies to do so". The physicist then raises the question of "the social consequences, which are enormous, and it is one of the problems that needs to be addressed. And what worries me is the absence of AI in the political debate, especially in Europe."

As for the possible need for a slowdown in the development of AI, Parisi observes that "it would have to be done on a global scale or it would be of no use. But it would be difficult to do it at a time when there is a trade war between the United States and China on this issue." The debate on data centers is then linked to the topic of AI and, also in this case, for the Nobel Prize winner "it is a problem of regulation, because if it were imposed, for example, their energy neutrality would not be a problem. We must not say a general no to data centers - he concludes -, we can say yes, but by placing precise conditions on the fact that they must not impact the environment".