“I would like to express my satisfaction that an extraordinary European Council will be devoted to issues relating to artificial intelligence. Greece has been at the forefront for years in developing a national strategy for a technology that truly has the potential to change everything”, Kyriakos Mitsotakis said as he arrived at the informal EU summit in Dublin.
“Artificial intelligence is a tool that can be valuable in improving public-sector productivity. We have set a clear goal: within the next three to four years, all Greek public servants should be familiar with the basic functions of artificial intelligence. Another government priority will be to use artificial intelligence to speed up and simplify public procurement, while also introducing important transparency indicators.
Artificial intelligence can genuinely help the country in this area, saving resources while further improving transparency in public procurement. This is also an issue we want to put on the European agenda during our EU presidency”, the prime minister said.
He also stressed: “But we must also be fully aware that artificial intelligence raises many questions that need to be answered: how it will affect the labour market, what impact it will have on education, and how we can integrate artificial intelligence into our schools without replacing the need for our children to develop critical thinking.
These are all extremely complex issues that need to be addressed. This, of course, calls for an open discussion with the major artificial intelligence companies and major platforms. Our country has shown that it is willing to engage in such a discussion, introducing national legislation where it considers this necessary”.
Mr Mitsotakis also referred to the measure banning children in Greece aged under 15 from accessing social media: “I would like to remind you that Greece will be the only European country to impose a ban, backed by specific legislative penalties, on Greek children under 15 accessing social media from 1 January 2027. This decision will require the major platforms to comply with national legislation.
We believe, however, that we are doing the right thing to protect our children’s mental health and keep them away from addictive algorithms, whose sole purpose is to exploit the vulnerability of our children and teenagers in order to make more money. This is unacceptable to the Greek government”.
Concluding his statement, the prime minister said: “So we look forward with great interest to this discussion. It is important for Europe to develop a comprehensive European strategy on artificial intelligence. And I am absolutely certain that Greece will be at the forefront of this effort”.