Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
For those who love a bit of suspense, September 27 is likely to prove a rather uneventful day, at least as far as Swiss direct democracy is concerned.
The second official voting poll by the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) predicts a clear rejection of both the neutrality initiative and the food security initiative.
The two initiatives to be voted on on September 27 – the neutrality initiative and the food security initiative – are both heading for a clear defeat at the ballot box, according to the second official voting poll by the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC).
Compared with the last survey a month ago, support for the yes campaign – which seeks to enshrine a restrictive interpretation of neutrality in the Constitution – has fallen by nine percentage points. Sixty-three per cent of respondents to the SBC poll, conducted by the gfs.bern institute, intend to reject the proposal put forward by Pro Suisse; 34% support it and 3% remain undecided. Among Swiss citizens living abroad, the no vote stands at 67%.
The initiative is also losing support among Swiss People’s Party voters, the only major party to have come out in favour of it. Some 77% of Swiss People’s Party voters now support it, down from 86% in mid-August.
The food security initiative also appears to be heading for a clear defeat. It calls on the Swiss government to promote the production and consumption of plant-based foods. The first poll had shown a neck-and-neck race between the yes and no camps, but now 64% intend to vote no, 33% yes and 3% remain undecided.
The Swiss Abroad, who a month ago were in favour, now reject the initiative by 59%. Green Party voters are the only ones who continue to support the proposal, with 78% in favour.
The House of Representatives today followed the Senate’s decision yesterday by approving the free trade agreement between the EFTA states (Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) and Mercosur (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay).
The House of Representatives had narrowly rejected the agreement in June, but this time the deal was accompanied by a more substantial allocation of funds for agriculture.
The CHF517 million ($631 million) promised between 2028 and 2033 to compensate for the financial losses the sector fears it will suffer represents a compromise. Farmers’ representatives in parliament had called for CHF880 million, while the initial proposal provided for CHF158 million.
With this additional support for agriculture, the political left failed to block the agreement, which was approved by 118 votes to 66, with ten abstentions. According to the left, the deal should have been accompanied by more far-reaching measures to protect human rights and the environment.
A step has been taken in this direction, with the House of Representatives proposing CHF25 million to combat deforestation. For this reason, the bill will return to the Senate.
In any case, the Alliance Against Tropical Deforestation considers the allocation of funds derisory and, immediately following the parliamentary debate, announced the launch of a referendum. The people may therefore have the final say.
In recent days, alarming signals have been coming from the world of artificial intelligence (AI). Tamedia publications asked Marcel Salathé, a professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) and an AI expert, how to interpret them. In his view, these fears are “entirely unfounded from a scientific perspective”.
One of the most striking statements came from Jacob Coxon, an employee of Anthropic – the developer of the AI system Claude – who resigned and warned of an apocalyptic scenario, claiming there is a 10% chance that AI could wipe out humanity within the next decade. “These are simply figures plucked out of thin air,” says Salathé, “for which there is no evidence whatsoever and which are also extremely irresponsible. People are already worried enough about AI, partly with good reason.” Claiming that it is now out of control is problematic, even from a psychological point of view, he says.
Even executives at companies active in AI, such as Sam Altman or Elon Musk, warn of its risks. Salathé, a renowned epidemiologist, draws an analogy with the pharmaceutical sector: “Imagine if the CEO of Roche were to claim that it is absolutely necessary to slow down the development of medicines, but then did nothing about it and carried on developing them. People would rightly say: ‘He’s lost his mind’.”
According to Salathé, such statements are made by AI leaders solely to protect their billion-dollar investments. By making them, they provide a justification for introducing regulations that would hinder the rise of emerging competitors, such as those from China.
“We’ll all die, but not because of AI,” insists the co-director of the EPFL AI Centre, who takes an optimistic view of the technology. Indeed, in his view, thanks to AI, we will live longer, as it will help advance medicine. Thanks to AI, “our understanding of many medical processes is making huge strides”.
Artificial intelligence will not kill us all in the near future, Marcel Salathé reassures us, but it is nevertheless causing concern in Switzerland. A study by SwissVR Monitor indicates that three out of four companies in Switzerland have no strategy to combat AI-based cyberattacks, which are on the rise.
Only 18% of small businesses and 40% of large companies are strategically prepared, the study states. According to board members at the companies surveyed, 41% have already fallen victim to a cyberattack – 13 percentage points more than three years ago. This increase is mainly attributable to attacks on SMEs.
Furthermore, 55% of companies do not have tested contingency plans in place to restore essential IT processes. Here too, large companies (62% with a tested plan) are better prepared than small ones (32%). Financial service providers fare particularly well. The sector forms part of Switzerland’s so-called “critical infrastructure”, for which stricter rules apply and security standards are better established.
Translated from Italian, sub-edited by Alexandra MV Andrist/ts
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