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Chasing Future is the title chosen for the conference that will take place in Trento on 20 and 21 March 2024, with the aim of exploring future scenarios dictated by the looming technological development and understanding if and how human beings can prepare in advance and proactively adapt to the coming changes. The event is organized by the Trentino Innovation Hub Foundation, in collaboration with the University of Trento and the Bruno Kessler Foundation, with the patronage of the Italian Futurists Association, the Italian Institute for the Future and the Trentino Film Commission and the participation of the European Commission.
Let’s stop worrying and learn to embrace the future with imagination
Thus begins the introduction to the book “AI 2041: scenarios from the future of artificial intelligence” written by Chen Qiufan (aka Stan Chen) international Chinese science fiction screenwriter, as well as author of the book together with Kai-Fu Lee, Taiwanese entrepreneur, computer scientist and writer, artificial intelligence expert, former president of Google China, now at the helm of Sinovation Ventures (a two-billion-dollar venture capital that has invested in over 300 Chinese companies). Qiufan, in articulating the words of the introductory text to his work, mentions Amara’s law according to which “we tend to overestimate the effects of a technology in the short term and underestimate its effects in the long term”. Many of us, he writes, tend to think of AI in narrow terms: terminator robots, incompetent algorithms, mere soulless technological inventions that have nothing to do with how humans perceive the world, communicate emotions, manage institutions, and explore other possibilities in life. The truth is that the human quest for artificial intelligence is as long as the history of the world (from Chinese folk tales to Greek mythology): from the past to today, the unstoppable force of AI has continued to revolutionize every dimension of human civilization and will continue to do so. Qiufan goes on to highlight how science fiction, defined by best-selling author and historian Yuval Noah Harari as the most important art genre of our time, plays a rather delicate role in human-machine investigation. Some may use science fiction as a scapegoat, blaming it on narrow and often negative visions of AI. Science fiction serves as a warning, and speculative storytelling also has the unique ability to transcend space-time limitations, to connect technology and the humanities, to blur the line between fiction and reality, and to ignite empathy and deep thinking in its readers. The challenge, then, for science fiction writers, Chen Qiufan points out, is to create stories that not only reveal hidden truths about modern-day reality, but at the same time, provide the wildest imaginative possibilities. And for this reason, “AI 2041” is a unique book that seeks to combine science fiction with the analysis of the great ideas that animate technology, through the succession of 10 stories set in places scattered around the globe (California, Europe, United Arab Emirates, SriLanka, Japan, Korea…). While Kai-Fu Lee outlines ways AI could change human society in twenty years in areas ranging from medicine, education, entertainment, employment, and finance; on the other hand, Chen Qiufan who considers science fiction fascinating not only because it manages to create an imaginative space in which to escape to leave behind the mundanity of life, transform into superheroes, explore very distant galaxies, but also because it allows us to imagine a future: enter, change it and play an active role in shaping our reality. In other words, for Chen Qiufan, for every future we want to create, we must first imagine it. The two writers invite readers to reflect on the future of AI and its impact on human society, emphasizing the importance of human responsibility in shaping this future. AI is a powerful medium that can be used for good or evil, but it’s up to us humans to decide how to use it. Despite the rapid progress of AI, humans will continue to be the sole architects of their own destiny. It is humanity that is placed at the center of the discussion in “AI 2041”, not only artificial intelligence. It is from this point that we began our reflections, asking ourselves questions that we will try to answer through the debate, which we wish to give life to with the organization of the conference: how can man imagine the future? Is it imagination that actually shapes the world? How can we learn and train this ability? What are the methodologies that allow us to look beyond today’s horizon? Predicting the future is scientifically impossible, but imagining future scenarios and identifying major trends is not only feasible, but also crucial for directing actions in the present, making informed decisions, and developing long-term strategies. It is a perspective that allows us, as individuals, organizations, collectives, to proactively adapt to the coming changes. However, we need the right tools and methodologies to explore the challenges and opportunities that the future may present.
A film, a book and many experts
Future scenarios, foresight, science fiction and AI: these are the themes of the event. It will be the turn of the film “The Creator” by director Gareth Edwards to open the conference in the late afternoon of March 20 and launch the topics, which will be explored during March 21 at the Itas Forum in Trento, located in the “Le Albere” district designed by architect Renzo Piano. “The Creator” is a story that crosses the boundaries of a post-apocalyptic world, in which AI has become an integral part of everyday life and civilization is divided between the East, called New Asia, which uses and coexists in harmony with AI itself, and the West that demonizes it. The screenplay transports the viewer into an exhausting war alongside a man and a little girl who will try to change the fate of humanity, on a long journey that will lead both to a new awareness of existence. In the first session “The importance of imagining the future”, Roberto Poli , full professor at the University of Trento, Ferruccio Resta, president of the Bruno Kessler Foundation, the Politecnico di Milano Foundation and the National Center for Sustainable Mobility, and Michelle Labeeu , team leader for strategic foresight at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for International Partnerships, will help us understand why and how much it is It is important to work with the future and whether and how imagination can and should play a role in the decision-making processes of investors and policymakers. This will be followed by a speech by Chen Qiufan, keynote speaker of the event, who will present live from China one of the 10 stories contained in the book AI 2041 entitled “Quantum Genocide” focused on the use of quantum computing and the acceleration of technological development; a wake-up call, which can help to understand the serious consequences of a negative use of AI. In the second session “Science fiction as a tool for imagining the future” Francis Verso swriter and curator of Science Fiction, curator of the Future Fiction project and creative director of the Fishing Fortress SF Academy in Chongqing, Domizia De Rosa Founder and president of Women in film, television & media Italia and vice-president of Women in film & television international and Nicoletta Gomboli Brand and speculative designer with specialization in service, packaging and game design. With them we will try to understand how literature, cinema and videogames can help us in the creation of future scenarios, characterized by the declination in a creative form of current issues, first and foremost, sustainability. In the third session “Artificial intelligence and future scenarios” Nicoletta Boldrini, will interview Roberto Paura president of the Italian Institute for the Future, co-founder of the Association of Italian Futurists and director of “Futuri”, Italian journal of futures study and Riccardo Campa full professor of sociology and director of the Research Center on the History of Ideas of the Jagiellonian University of Krakow, about technological risks and the future of the work in relation to the predominant development of AI. This will be followed by the “Challenge of Ideas” which will see the writer Francesco Verso and Paolo Traverso , director of Strategic Planning of the Bruno Kessler Foundation, who will involve the public on the future of health, paying particular attention to its sustainability and the use of new technologies related to AI. With the aim of making the capacity for imagination more concrete, also the laboratory activity, led by Gloria Puppi , founder of Read My Script, with an experiential workshop, which aims to facilitate participants in the creation of future scenarios, services and products connected to them. With “Chasing Futures” the goal is to be able to start a broad and inclusive discussion on the future that awaits us, from which to draw numerous and different inputs to elaborate them, subsequently, in a short manifesto that can support policymakers in deciphering the best framework conditions to create a real “ecosystem” favorable to innovation. In fact, we think that innovation arises more easily from the intersection of multiple disciplines (technology, economics, creativity and even … and only in this way can it concretely become an engine of economic, social and environmental development and effectively promote collective well-being.
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