Ethics and the search for meaning in new models of development
A disruptive and highly intrusive technology that ‘promises’ to profoundly transform industrial and production models, and which raises profound questions about new cultural models in the face of future developments in artificial intelligence. In her closing remarks at the event organised by 4.Manager in Palermo, the Director-General, Francesca Mazzolari, highlighted how ‘one ingredient is often missing from the analysis: judgement, that is, the ability to decide what to change. And within organisations, judgement takes a specific organisational form: management’. The theme of limits is at the heart of the address by Don Vito Impellizzeri, Dean of the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Sicily: “The urgency of ethics,” he adds, “stems from an awareness of limits as the very essence of what it means to be human – the greatest resource for human creativity and intelligence.” In this context, he adds, the development of AI “must be directed towards the good of all, the common good, and must therefore be accessible to everyone and something that everyone can experience”. The issue, therefore, is political: we must think of AI as an artificial accelerator, but one which, as Don Vito Impellizzeri further emphasises, citing Pope Leo’s encyclical *Magnifica Humanitas*, has “political and institutional governance of AI, and not merely an economic and financial logic”. Globalisation, he concludes, cannot be driven by algorithms, “which steer human desires towards the new idol, security,” emphasises Impellizzari, who speaks of fraternity as a genuine “political category”.
In this profound search for meaning, adds Francesca Mazzolari, ‘we need to ask ourselves the most important question: what is the purpose of innovation, and who is it for?’. A passage inspired by the words of Claudia Lentini, chair of the Scientific Committee of the Dusmet Foundation’s Training School: ‘Innovation is an act of love,’ emphasises Lentini, ‘and when we say this, we spark interest. In our view, using technology is the right thing to do; it must be placed at the service of the human person. All the start-ups we engage with through the Dusmet Award we have established must propose ethical models for the use of technology, which leave ultimate control in the hands of the human person.”
Giuseppe Ragusa, Professor of Econometrics at Sapienza University of Rome and Affiliate Lecturer at London Business School, highlights how ethical issues have gained prominence over the years, not least in light of the profound, disruptive impact that new technologies are having. “Start-ups emerged as a new model of business focused on ethics – that was the impression – but history has, to some extent, proved us wrong, and this is a paradox,” he says. “The value of start-ups,” concludes Ragusa, “lies in the people; we need to think about training programmes for staff – programmes that must be adapted to meet the challenges we are currently facing.”
