13,500 attendees. More than double compared to last year. 160 guests, arrived in Italy from 10 countries. Leading excellences from the world of innovation and digital entrepreneurship who shared their ideas and experiences on the stage of the Ogr in Turin where the three days of Italian Tech Week ended yesterday. Numbers. Useful to photograph the growth of an event which has reached its fifth edition this year, breaking every record. But that alone is not enough to describe its formula and explain its success. The 9,000 square meters of the Ogr were transformed during the Week into a hotbed of the future. Where the most urgent issues and challenges coming from the world of technology were addressed: artificial intelligence; relationship between man and machine; urgent need to make Italy a country capable of cultivating companies capable of becoming promoters of innovation at an international level while preserving its own way of doing business. An Italian way. Engineering and creativity. “Humanism and technology”, as underlined by Brian Chesky, co-founder of Airbnb. Italian by origins, the entrepreneur was one of the guests of honor at the Italian Tech event – held in collaboration with Exor Ventures and Vento – in his dialogue with the CEO of Exor and president of the Gedi Group (publisher of this newspaper) , John Elkann. Dialogue that marked one of the main moments of the three days, together with the contribution of Sam Altman, head of OpenAi and creator of ChatGpt. The chatbot that has enabled the potential of artificial intelligence to the general public. Central theme from the beginning to the end of the event. AI allowed the Sermig Youth Orchestra of Turin to perform live two movements of Beethoven’s Tenth Symphony, his ‘Unfinished’ (he had left few drafts). Technologies capable of creating suggestions. Able to change our present and shape the future. It is an alchemical formula. Like the one told by another awaited guest of the event, among the most applauded speeches of the last day.
Christian Greco, director of the Egyptian Museum of Turin
Christian Greco, director of the Egyptian Museum of Turin: “Thanks to technology today the museum becomes a laboratory. Research is being done. We are studying new ways of preserving the past and creating the future.” Greco does not mention the controversies that have affected him in recent days. But he begins by reiterating the political role of his activity: “By its nature a museum must address social inequalities. It must talk about rights. The Constitution says so, where the Republic is called to remove the obstacles that allow a person’s development. A museum is a place of participation. It is a place that must guarantee dialectics. Use the past to rebuild the future.” And he does it thanks to technology: “Digital technology today allows a sarcophagus to tell things that years ago it couldn’t tell. And in the future, thanks to new technologies, it will say even more. Research is a journey. Digital gives and will always give it new life.” Formula element. Sap of alchemy. Which projects from the past to the future.
From sarcophagi to avatars. “The future will be theirs too. Humans, avatars and robots together. And our real world will no longer be just real. But a virtualized real world.” Hiroshi Ishiguro is a professor of System Innovation at Osaka University. But above all one of the most listened to voices in the world in robotics and AI research. His intervention is a window onto the future that borders on the dystopian: “Avatars will allow us to create a world that will combine the benefits of the real and the virtual. A world where we will have our alter egos. They will take away our tasks and hardships. It doesn’t even mean that there will be a need for a job, because they will create wealth and prosperity for us,” he reasoned. AI, he explains, alone is not enough. He does this while a video with his avatar is projected behind him. A humanoid Hiroshi who replicates his actions and expressions. “The society of the future will be a mixed society. Of humans and avatars. Not everyone will decide to accept it. There is a risk that society will become polarized. To avoid it, the only way is for there to be more training on these issues,” he concludes. Training. And a lot of trust.
See you next year. Where there is already an exceptional guest confirmed. Sam Altman, this time in attendance
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