Greece’s PM Admits AI Challenges Outpace Policy at Silicon Valley Visit

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis traveled to San Francisco on Monday with a dual mission: to bolster Greece’s standing in the global technology sector and to openly acknowledge the limitations of current governance regarding artificial intelligence. Speaking to an audience of approximately 250 founders, investors, and industry operators, the prime minister confessed that he lacks definitive answers to many of the complex AI questions currently being debated privately by world leaders.

Describing the visit as a “homecoming” due to his Stanford master’s degree, Mitsotakis framed the trip as both a fact-finding expedition and a recruitment drive. Earlier in the day, he toured facilities including Tesla and Sequoia Capital before planning to attend the U.N. General Assembly in New York. A primary objective is to attract tech companies to Greece, which is scheduled to be reclassified as a developed market by index provider MSCI next year.

“I think it’s another indication that the economy is doing well and that Greece is no longer treated as a special case,” Mitsotakis stated. He highlighted Greece’s rapid debt repayment and noted that the country currently borrows at lower rates than the United States. As of this writing, Greece’s 10-year bond yield stands at approximately 4.3%, a stark contrast to the 40% yields seen during the 2012 debt crisis, though differences in eurozone interest rates account for part of the disparity.

Mitsotakis emphasized how EU recovery funds have been utilized, directing roughly €36 billion toward digital infrastructure. Key projects include an online government portal to streamline paperwork and a new supercomputer in Lavrio, assembled with Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, which is expected to launch within months to support AI and scientific research. The government has also adjusted tax policies on stock options, relaxed labor laws, and introduced reduced tax rates for returning Greeks for up to seven years.

When discussing visa programs, Mitsotakis admitted that processing speeds remain an area requiring improvement. He also pointed to a cultural shift in Greek public universities, which he described as having moved away from a “radical leftist approach” hostile to corporations toward one that now fosters startup creation. The broader goal is to reverse the brain drain experienced during the debt crisis and to offer an alternative for founders facing stricter American visa regulations.

The conversation shifted in tone when addressing AI’s societal impact. Mitsotakis revealed that Greece plans to ban social media use for children under 15 starting in January, but cautioned that such measures may already be obsolete given the addictive nature of AI chatbots. “Sometimes I feel that we’re already fighting yesterday’s battle,” he said. “What does it mean for our kids to grow up with digital companions or boyfriends or girlfriends?”

Regarding education, Greece is piloting a program with OpenAI to reduce administrative burdens on teachers and exploring personalized AI tutors. However, Mitsotakis warned against complacency, noting that students are already using chatbots to complete homework and that AI should not replace the foundational effort of learning basic skills.

Unlike many global counterparts, Greece has not faced significant opposition to data center development despite concerns over energy and water consumption. Mitsotakis cited Microsoft’s construction of a data center cluster near Athens and a recent agreement between AWS and Greece’s largest utility to build the country’s biggest data center in a former coal region as evidence of local support.

On the topic of job displacement, Mitsotakis acknowledged that governments and societies are unprepared for the speed at which AI will transform the labor market. He expressed support for calls from frontier lab leaders to slow AI development, arguing that policymakers must listen when creators admit uncertainty about how models improve themselves. While he predicted that the United States will largely shape the framework for “smart regulation,” he suggested Greece could serve as a venue for philosophical discourse.

“Humanity has created a form of intelligence that is very quickly exceeding the capacity of the most advanced organ that evolution has ever created,” Mitsotakis observed. He advocated for bringing together technologists with social scientists, philosophers, and historians to discuss what it means to be human—an invitation he noted would find a fitting historical precedent in Athens, where Socrates once debated the nature of a good life in the agora.