Artificial intelligence and big tech reshape balances and economies

It is not just a technology that enables new functions: artificial intelligence (Ai, in English) reconfigures the world, the balance of power and economies, posing new problems of both ethics and sustainability of systems. At the Trento Festival of Economics (22-25 May) there are many panels dedicated to this topic. Indeed, technologies are one of the crucial themes of this fourth edition in the new Festival formula conceived by the 24 ORE Group together with Trentino Marketing (in the role of organisers on behalf of the Autonomous Province of Trento and with the contribution of the Municipality of Trento and the University of Trento). A special edition, celebrating 20 years of the Festival and 160 years of Il Sole 24 Ore, seeking to understand the future of Europe right from the title: "Risks and fatal choices. Europe at the crossroads'.

It is impossible to mention all the panels and speakers in a few lines, but some personalities are bound to attract a large audience in Trento in the online streaming of the events on the Sole 24 Ore website.

For example, the Festival will be enriched by the presence of Daron Acemoglu, freshly awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics 2024 and professor at the MIT in Boston. On 25 May, he will speak on the topic 'The never-ending struggle between power and progress in the age of artificial intelligence': the title of the panel echoes that of his latest book, published with his Nobel co- laureate Simon Johnson: 'Power and Progress. Our age-old struggle for technology and prosperity' (published by Saggiatore).

'At the Festival I would like to outline the opportunities of artificial intelligence for human society and in particular for young people, businesses and states,' Acemoglu explained to Il Sole 24 Ore, 'with the analysis of various scenarios compared on the basis of the business models chosen and the policies implemented by governments. The history of the adoption of other technologies, which I am going to outline, shows us what opportunities are opening up and what mistakes to avoid. With generative Ai, in fact, it will be crucial not to miss opportunities for development and participation, as previous generations did in the past when digital technologies were introduced'.

Other prestigious presences at the 2025 Festival will be those of Gian Maria Gros-Pietro, president of Intesa Sanpaolo, and Alberto Sangiovanni Vincentelli, one of the world's leading IT experts, successful entrepreneur and lecturer at the University of Berkeley. Gros-Pietro will introduce the round table entitled 'Big tech after the rise of Musk', which will be attended by Silicon Valley guru Sangiovanni Vincentelli, Luiss Rector Paolo Boccardelli and economist Michele Boldrin. The power of big tech will also be analysed in the panel with Alberto Barachini, undersecretary to the Prime Minister with responsibility for information and publishing. Father Paolo Benanti, chairman of the Artificial Intelligence Committee at the Department for Information and Publishing of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, will speak on the subject of artificial intelligence and the ethics of technology. Also returning to Trento will be archistar Carlo Ratti, director of the Senseable city lab at the MIT in Boston, to illustrate how Ai shifts the boundaries of innovation.