Artificial Intelligence and Diplomacy Panel Held in Rome

At a high-level panel held at Villa Europa in Rome, the impact of artificial intelligence technologies on international cooperation, humanitarian aid activities, and human-centric regulatory processes was discussed.

The event, held within the scope of the Festival della Diplomazia 2026, brought together Lucilla Sioli, Head of the European Union AI Office; Brian Burch, US Ambassador to the Holy See; Jozef Barlaš, Secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development; and Kenn Crossley, CIO of the UN World Food Programme (WFP). The panel emphasized the potential of artificial intelligence and the necessity of human-centric regulations for the development of safe, ethical, and reliable systems.

The EU AI Act, the European Union's first continent-wide legal framework in the field of artificial intelligence, was one of the main agenda items of the meeting. Furthermore, the importance of the Council of Europe Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence, which the EU is a signatory to and which includes the participation of 20 countries such as the US, Japan, Canada, Switzerland, and Ukraine, was highlighted. The discussions were inspired by Pope Leo XIV's encyclical 'Magnifica Humanitas'.