How to survive (and change job) in the age of Intelligent Machines?

Suddenly, it has arrived!

It was not really a surprise — people had been talking about it for some time, for several years actually.

We should already have been used to it. It should not have made the news, and yet it did. There it is, on the front, second and third pages of every newspaper.

These days, that is all anyone talks about. Artificial Intelligence is here, among us, and it has a precise name and shape. It is called ChatGPT.

And yet, as a technology, Artificial Intelligence has already been present for several years almost everywhere. Have you not noticed that for some time your smartphones have been taking nicer photos? It is not just better sensors and lenses — it is Artificial Intelligence taking selfies when we do not have the boiled-fish expression and choosing exposure times and apertures to deliver bright colours and lights.

Artificial Intelligence is on board our cars; it manages the control units, optimises consumption, makes automatic gearboxes pleasant even for us Italians.

Artificial Intelligence chooses our music playlists, targets advertising, ensures that the first page of Google always returns the results we want even when our queries are ambiguous, picks the best routes when we use the smartphone’s navigator.

So why does ChatGPT amaze and surprise us?

Because it speaks?

Siri and Alexa speak too, but we have never dedicated whole newspaper pages to them.

The thing is, ChatGPT speaks differently — it sounds human, it adapts to context better and it almost feels conscious.

But is it really conscious?

Is there a test to establish whether an Artificial Intelligence is truly conscious? Can we know if we are on the threshold of a dystopian world ruled by Machines that will become Terminators, or by touchy computers like HAL9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey?

Such a test exists and is called the Turing Test, and ChatGPT fails it miserably, yet continues to amaze us with its effectiveness.

Without going into what the Turing test is — you can find it on the web, or ask ChatGPT directly — just scroll your Facebook timeline to read excerpts of chats where ChatGPT looks like a fool, tricked by the wicked prompts of those who want to prove they are smarter than the devil and do not believe in this “Intelligence” story.

These are proofs that the Turing test would not be passed, yet it remains a powerful tool.

Used well — according to the manufacturer’s instructions, as with any technological tool — its results are excellent.

It writes articles in correct Italian, clear, reasonably accurate, and much appreciated by search engines, which reward websites that publish content generated by Artificial Intelligences such as ChatGPT by pushing them onto the front pages of results. A blessing for those working in SEO — the optimisation of websites for search engines.

This capability alone is already enough to threaten the jobs of a large group of self-styled professionals, normally already underpaid, who hide behind English-language titles like content creator, digital marketing specialist, content strategist and similar amenities.

And this consideration takes us to the heart of the real problem.

ChatGPT is only the easiest example to see and understand of the general trend that characterises the current period of digital revolution.

Digital technology — child of the microelectronics revolution and of the pervasiveness of computers — has crossed a critical threshold value and is now overflowing, flooding the world with innovations at an ever-tighter pace.

Big industry has already been revolutionised; small and medium-sized enterprises are heavily impacted by new technologies; the school system is about to be turned upside down; and the world of work is changing at a speed never seen before.

Suddenly, all together, technologies that were in a waiting state — that had had their moment of media enthusiasm many years ago, only to almost become the symbol of a future that never arrived — have come to the fore.

Artificial Intelligence was one of these. At the end of the 1980s, more than 30 years ago, the IT world was waiting for the imminent fifth generation of computers promised by the Japanese: intelligent computers able to pass the Turing test.

AI has only now become a technology of practical interest, but the same has happened with Virtual Reality and many other innovations that left the research phase, by then far from the media hype stage, embedded in the systems and machines that fuel the new industrial revolution — which would be the fourth since the invention of the flying shuttle.

Another such technology is 3D printing, invented over 30 years ago, which had its period of media excitement between 2012 and 2016. And then?

Where did 3D printing go — back in 2015 there were people who thought they would turn their lives around by opening a Fab Lab and buying 3D printers in assembly kits?

3D printers were everywhere on television.

We do not have a 3D printer in every home, as was unwisely prophesied at the time, but today 3D printers are virtually everywhere in industry. They no longer make the news because media hype tires, but from useless curiosities they have become perfect tools in the era of mass customisation, on-demand production and supply chains disrupted by the pandemic.

3D printing is also one of the factors driving the development of collaborative robotics, a fast-growing sector destined to revolutionise small businesses and craft enterprises.

We do not believe that in the near future we will spend part of our time in the Metaverse as narrated by Neal Stephenson in his cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, but virtual and especially augmented reality technologies are already in large and medium-sized industry.

Unity and Unreal are two 3D graphics development tools, born in the videogame sector to offer a “real-time rendering engine” to game developers; today they are widely used in manufacturing for the creation of so-called digital twins, that is parametric CAD representations of machines, plants and entire factories for simulation and training purposes.

In 2021 BMW completed the creation of a digital twin for each of the 21 plants it owns worldwide.

The overall macroeconomic picture is not the best. The economy, despite the criticalities and uncertainties due to the well-known geopolitical scenarios, seems to maintain a clearly upward trend.

Markets are perceived as unstable, but there is strong momentum. Companies’ organisation must become ever more efficient and flexible. New technologies are a crucial element to pursue these goals.

After an initial increase in employment caused by the post-pandemic rebound, the labour market has become more uncertain, with a marked rise in precarious work.

To survive in this scenario, it is necessary to adapt and, above all, redefine one’s skills.

The current period can be defined as a period of permanent crisis. It is a chronic state in which the dynamics typical of crises are the reference scenario.

Crises can have very negative effects on people’s lives and well-being but can also offer great opportunities.

It is a fact, confirmed by history, that new technologies create more jobs than they destroy.

How can we face this situation, which is at the same time critical and rich in new opportunities?

The first fundamental answer is: training. It is important to invest in your own training. The goal is to acquire new skills.

We need new and solid skills both in the field of so-called hard skills and soft skills.

It is no coincidence that an important part of the national recovery and resilience plans required by the European Community of its member states concerns training and schools.

In Italy, the Piano Scuola 4.0 is under way, an important chapter of our PNRR. The goal is to transform the entire school system in a digital direction. The plan envisages the creation of smart labs and the transformation of all classrooms into innovative learning environments.

We are particularly sensitive to the topic of training, because one of Chirale’s main activities is precisely the delivery of advanced training services on new technologies.

Our course offer has long been at the forefront on the most important topics of the digital transition. Through strategic-partnership agreements with Universities, Academies and Business Associations, every year we actively contribute to the training of thousands of people — students, professionals, employees, craftspeople and ordinary citizens.

Our Learning Management System platform, launched in 2020 at the height of the pandemic, has surpassed 6,000 enrolled students.

The contents of our courses, both in e-learning and in person, are updated monthly, and despite the platform being only two years old, we felt that the market scenario required a further leap forward.

Two years may seem few, but in the current technological context they represent a geological era. We are already in full development of a new platform that will incorporate the latest technologies in the Learning Management System sector.

The requirements of professionals and companies have evolved, and the next-generation LMS platforms must offer tools that accelerate the development of specialist skills as well as soft skills.

With the help of new technologies in multimedia production, artificial intelligence and so-called gamification, we are developing a new academy dedicated to all the Numeric Arts. We have involved the most innovative players in our region and are currently migrating and enriching all our content.

For all courses we will issue intermediate and final certificates, in the form of Verifiable Digital Badges, compliant with the international Open Badge standard.

At the same time, we are reviewing our model of lab structures and innovative learning environments.

The goal is to strengthen the direct presence in places of residence and work.

The new labs will increasingly resemble Spazio Chirale di Garbatella, an experience that has shown the superiority of immediately accessible spaces, with shop windows on the street.

In-person training is becoming more and more an event, visible to the whole public. The educational activity — functional to the development of skills for course participants — also becomes a source of inspiration for the area onto which our window literally faces.

We have abandoned the development of large, concentrated and isolated labs inside pseudo-industrial, depopulated areas, in favour of a distribution of spaces of equivalent size, across multiple thematic environments directly on the street, much like an ordinary shop. Places where the public can come in by knocking on the glass door and ask for information, also speaking with customers present alongside our staff, without the artificial barrier of websites and call centres.

Ledwall technology, another technology that is becoming ubiquitous, enriches our new labs, contributing — through the impactful language of images — to the diffusion of messages and digital culture.

While waiting for the launch of the new platform, planned for spring 2023, for information you can come visit us at Spazio Chirale di Garbatella — you will find the address on the contacts page.