On Friday 29 May in Paris, the G7 ministers for digital affairs and technology agreed on common principles aimed at protecting minors online in order to “preserve their safety, privacy, freedom of expression [...], human rights and fundamental freedoms”. However, the joint statement proved less ambitious as far as data centre sustainability, due to reservations expressed by the United States.
“Our collective responsibility is clear: to make the digital sector a driver of growth, sovereignty, trust and protection for our citizens”, said French Minister Delegate for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Digital Affairs Anne Le Hénanff at the subsequent press conference.
In the joint statement, the G7 acknowledged that AI systems and models “can be misused for malicious purposes”, while emphasising the need “to strengthen coherence in approaches to assessing, reporting and mitigating AI-related risks”.
Regarding minors, the G7 noted that digital services can be “a powerful tool for learning, discovering and sharing”. Nevertheless, given the risks to young people’s “physical and mental health”, the statement highlights the fact that digital service providers and governments have a responsibility to take protective measures. This involves implementing risk mitigation mechanisms and providing tools that enable parents and guardians to supervise minors’ use of digital spaces, including against “non-consensual intimate images”, “AI-generated child sexual abuse material” or “sexually exploitative or pornographic content”. To this end, the French Presidency will launch discussions aimed at strengthening scientific knowledge and the assessment of digital services used by minors.
Regarding resilience and resource efficiency in the digital sector, the G7 recognises data centres’ “increasing” consumption of natural resources and energy, as well as “the need for reliable and diversified energy production and efficient use of resources”. According to the statement, “improving access to safe, reliable, sustainable and affordable energy, as well as the efficient use of resources and energy throughout the digital value chain, are becoming essential for the resilience of economies and for the capacity to develop digital infrastructure and AI models”.
Anne Le Hénanff acknowledged that France would have liked to take the issue of data centre sustainability further; at the same time, she welcomed the “constructive” attitude of the United States, which agreed “to recognise that this subject needed to be discussed”. “This is a huge step. When the discussions started, this wasn’t the case”, she explained, noting that the environmental impact of data centres is a priority for France and that the country has leverage in this area, particularly in terms of energy taxation.
The G7 also advocated for “targeted and proportionate policy responses to reduce barriers to the adoption” of artificial intelligence by micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), given its potential for “productivity and growth”. (Original version in French by Ana Pisonero Hernández)