Leaders vow to fight foreign meddling

Countries plan 'collective response framework' to combat threats

- NOJOUD AL MALLEES

Pope Francis i waves while sitting next to Italian Prime - Minister Giorgia Meloni s at the G7 summit Friday in southern Italy. The pontiff, who - became the first pope to address a G7 -summit, d counselled the - leaders to centre humanity in the - development of Al.

Leaders of the G7 countries say they are more concerned than ever about foreign interference and plan to create a “collective response framework” to counter foreign threats to democracies.

That pledge is part of a 43-page communique released Friday by the leaders of Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Germany and Japan.

It said government ministers have been asked to get the framework together by the end of the year, and that it will include publicly exposing “foreign operations of information manipulation.”

The communique also called on tech companies to step up their efforts to prevent and counter foreign interference and information manipulation, particularly through the abuse of artificial intelligence.

The focus on foreign interference and its threats to democracy comes at a time when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has been embroiled in controversy over allegations that foreign states including China and India have tried meddling in the last two federal elections.