Everywhere one goes you hear that AI is going to change this world for the better.

I’m not so sure.

It is a tool that cannot be controlled and placed in the hands of all and sundry, like social media, will be to the detriment of humankind and ultimately spell its destruction.

Social media has defined the first quarter of this new century and has not made the world a better place. One can’t trust modern communication and its veracity has to be constantly verified.

We are entering a time where you cannot believe what your own eyes are seeing. The suspension of disbelief is here.

Take the case of the video clip of Tesla boss and Donald Trump ally Elon Musk being kissed passionately by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at an official ceremony.

It looked real enough but was AI-generated. Plenty of people were duped into believing it was genuine and were stunned by Musk’s bravado.

If world leaders can be so manipulated in 2024, it is foreboding of what is to come. The ugliness and darkness of humankind allowed to go unchecked is a threat just as daunting as climate change.

We missed the dangers of unregulated social media and people being able to say whatever they want. It was said that it would democratise the media, that everyone would have their say. We are all the poorer for it and standards have dropped.

Unregulated it poses a clear and present danger.

Giorgia Meloni has emerged as an important European leader and a champion of the continent’s culture, values and political ideologies.

She makes a cogent point which goes some way in explaining why many people from around the world flee their countries seeking safe haven in Europe.

But they cannot come and expect to change the fabric of what is essentially European. The people of Europe want to attain their traditions. Why should they have to adopt foreign customs and be made to feel like strangers in their own homes?

This is the issue of our times and the prevailing thinking behind Donald Trump’s immigration policy. He will now make European powers less apologetic and guilty about restricting the hordes coming over the borders.

This is not racist, more a case of preserving what has endured for hundreds of years and allowing people to value institutions that have stood the test of time.

She’s right when she says Italy should not be a refugee camp for Europe.

“I think that a quota of legal migration where it can be fully integrated can make a positive contribution to our economies, but I remain convinced that it would be more responsible for us to entrust European citizens with the solution to the European welfare system crisis. Decline is a choice. And it is not the choice that we will do,” said the Prime Minister of Italy.

Again correct and I for one agree with her. Why watch and allow your country to fall into an unrecognisable declining state burdened by unrelenting migration? Ethnic substitution must not be allowed to prevail. Italians need to be having more children. European states must now work together to address this migrant problem and not allow themselves to be held hostage by it.

Meloni has been labelled ultra far-right, some kind of rabid fascist but that doesn’t do her justice. Rather she is a pragmatist who wants to preserve the essence of Western Europe.

Speaking at the Global Citizen Awards Ceremony in September this year, Meloni said: “As a politician, you basically have two options — be a leader or be a follower. To act for the good of your people or to act only driven by polls. My ambition is to lead and not to follow.

“We should not be ashamed to use and defend words and concepts like “nation” and ”patriotism” because they mean more than a physical space. They mean a state of mind to which one belongs in sharing culture, traditions, values. When we see our flag, if we feel proud, it means we feel the pride of being part of a community that we are ready to do our part to make its fate better.

“For me, the West is more than a physical place. By the West, I mean a civilisation built over the centuries by the genius and sacrifice of many. The West is a system of values where the person is central, men and women are equal and free and therefore the systems are democratic. Life is sacred. The state is secular and based on the rule of law.

“I ask and wonder, are these values that we should be ashamed of? Do these values drive us away from others or bring us closer to others? As the West, I think we have two risks to counter.

“The first is what one of the greatest contemporary European philosophers, Roger Scruton called “Oikophobia” — from the Greek word “Oikos” which means “home” and “phobia” which means fear.

“Oikophobia is the aversion to one’s home. Mounting discontent which leads us to violently erase the symbols of our civilisations like what we now see in the US and Europe.

“The second risk is the paradox that on the one hand, the West looks down on itself, on the other hand, it claims to be superior to the others. The result is the West is in danger of becoming a less credible interlocutor. The so-called global south is demanding more influence. Developing nations which are largely established are autonomously collaborating among themselves. Autocracies are gaining ground on democracies and we risk looking more and more like a closed and self-referential fortress.

“We need to recover awareness of who we are as Western peoples. We have a duty to keep this promise and seek the answers to the problems of the future by having faith in our values. A synthesis born out of the meeting of Greek philosophy, Roman law and Christian humanism. I’m starting with the man in the mirror, I’m asking him to change his ways. You know the Michael Jackson song.

“We have to start with ourselves, to know who we really are and to respect that, so we can understand and respect others as well.”

Meloni gave one of the best speeches here by a national leader in many decades. She is a credit to Italy and an important voice on both the European and world stage. One can see why Elon Musk is taken with her. She is smart, intelligent, humane, has a sense of humour and remains composed.

It is facile to diminish her with this AI-generated video which stereotypes her and plays into sexist tropes.

Yes, she is attractive but more importantly, she is a serious European leader who conducts herself with dignity, and pride and carries herself as a Prime Minister—the head of her country—should.

It is hoped that Giorgia Meloni will have a long tenure as Prime Minister of Italy and go on to become a transformative figure. This AI-generated video is very dangerous on many levels and should be condemned. Women the world over should decry it because it does them no favours and perpetuates the notion that they can’t be taken seriously and are governed first by emotion.

The video reduces her credibility and she is credible. Hers is a voice that has to be paid attention to. Giogia Meloni is no factotum. She is not a media or political construct served up on the world stage because she ticks the right boxes of this age. This lady is a deep thinker, a woman of ideas and beliefs. Do not trivialise her in this shameful way.

It is bad enough that young people are lapping up this inane stuff and prefer spending their time on TIkTok instead of reading and placing a value on education.

We want a real world with people prospering and coming together in meaningful ways—not artificial ones.

Big up Giorgia Meloni! Keep the faith.