Humans and Machines

The conference "The whole truth. Artificial intelligence and society" organised by Associazione Carlo Battaglini in collaboration with USI was held recently on campus. Speakers on the topic included Teresa Numerico (Associate Professor at University of Roma Tre, author of Big Data and Algorithms. Prospettive critiche, 2021), Andrea Daniele Signorelli (expert in digital innovation and journalist on some of the leading Italian newspapers including Wired, La Repubblica and Domani) and Gabriele Balbi, Full Professor at the Faculty of Communication Sciences, Culture and Society and lecturer in media history at USI.

The digital world we are immersed in is built on artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, which influence many of our daily activities. Therefore, the conference "The Whole Truth: Artificial Intelligence and Society" aimed to clarify what AI is, how it operates, and what potential risks are associated with it.

Gabriele Balbi, a full professor at USI Faculty of Communication Sciences, Culture and Society, acted as moderator for the evening and first asked his guests to explain what AI means. "The term "AI" (artificial intelligence) has been around for at least 70 years and has evolved over time. Initially, AI referred to machines that could replicate human intellectual processes. However, today, AI generally refers to machine learning, which involves machines learning from data through statistical algorithms to identify patterns and regularities. A more fitting name for AI might be statistical inference systems," explained Andrea Daniele Signorelli.

Among the various terms related to AI, Big Data and algorithms are often mentioned. Teresa Numerico explained how to distinguish between these concepts: "One approach to developing AI involves training it on databases, where the AI extracts regularities without engaging in reasoning. When we talk about Big Data, which is singular for English speakers, we refer to the large amount of data used to train AI. It's only with recent advancements in computing power that we've been able to extract regularities from Big Data using algorithms."

These significant developments have indeed brought about many changes, leading one to question the areas where AI can be applied in our society. For Andrea Daniele Signorelli, "The world remains unchanged, except for the widespread use of AI like ChatGPT for writing. The issue stems from the perception of the human-machine relationship as adversarial. However, the fault lies not with the machine but with humanity. AI cannot generate new ideas independently; it only reproduces existing information. The most effective outcomes occur when humans and machines collaborate. Therefore, it is beneficial to consider machines as assistants to humans."

One question, which also ties in with the cover image that has been chosen, is what will change politically with the arrival of AI. Will we see an increase in disinformation? According to Andrea Daniele Signorelli, "AI can definitely be used to spread disinformation, as it is already being used to create deepfakes - videos or audio recordings that are manipulated to show someone saying or doing something they never actually did. Initially, deepfakes have targeted celebrities and politicians, but they could pose a threat to everyone in the future. What concerns me even more are cheapfakes, which are original videos with false or misleading captions, for example."

The last question also concerns the business model revolving around the development of AI. What are the costs of this development, and who is interested in the development of AI? "The primary investors in AI development are private companies with well-known names. These companies have significant financial resources tied to the potential of AI. It's important to recognise that producing and operating AI requires substantial material and financial resources, but so far, there is no business model. Having AI write instead of human writers doesn't directly generate income, but for now, ChatGPT's primary function is writing," Teresa Numerico concluded.