As I imagined, my editorial on artificial intelligence sparked numerous discussions. Most of these, I do not know why,or rather I imagine it and will try to explain it later, reached me via private emails or WhatsApp messages.
After many years I have understood that there are topics some people prefer to discuss outside social channels to avoid revealing their point of view to a wider audience. I realize this is an anomalous behavior in a world where everyone seems to want to be visible to all. However, on certain subjects, people prefer to hide to some extent, and one of these is undoubtedly AI. If you think about it, this silence is quite justifiable because the use of artificial intelligence exposes our vulnerabilities.
This is a good piece of news to me, because it means we have not fully cleared its use and we are not completely legitimizing its constant presence in our daily activities. I even go so far as to think that some people are ashamed of having to use it even for the most trivial things. For instance, when we forget the title of the Netflix series we would like to recommend to our friends, and yes I admit I have done it too.
But if there is a light use, like the so-called white lies, there are other much heavier ones that make us feel dirty or even delegitimized in our professionalism. I know some people think I am exaggerating, but many of the comments that reached me privately resembled a confession more than a personal opinion. Someone even asked me if my comment on AI referred to their LinkedIn posts, showing a sort of guilty conscience from the improper use of artificial intelligence.
Beyond my perhaps overly cerebral motivations regarding this fear of taking a transparent stance on the use of AI, I believe it is appropriate for me to delve deeper into this topic. This is an in-depth analysis that tries to answer the question many have asked me. Since you have exposed yourself so clearly on AI, can you tell us what the correct uses of this diabolical tool might be? Now, I do not want to appear in the least as the one who has understood everything.
I do not claim to know all the risks we run with a rampant use of AI. There are many individuals, much more authoritative than me, who explain daily on every media outlet the risks we are running. These range from the most trivial, yet worrying ones like reducing analytical skills, to those that bluntly outline apocalyptic scenarios. I do not have specialized skills to give highly authoritative evaluations, so everything I state comes simply from my direct experience.
My perspective is based on the personal use and the habits of the people I know best regarding artificial intelligence. It is a decidedly limited and statistically unreliable observatory. Nevertheless, I believe that in such a primordial phase of AI, personal evaluations are still useful and precious, without any presumption of holding the absolute truth.Even though all the major AI experts will say that it is anything but primordial. It is with this spirit that I highlight some possible positive uses of AI below.
First of all, as I had already pointed out in my previous editorial, having a vast number of sources available can provide a much broader framework of viewpoints if well utilized and compared. But already in this first point, there is an obvious key factor that guarantees a correct use of all these sources, which is being absolutely competent on that specific topic. I will give an example regarding our wine world, where AI can surely help by providing many sources with a sea of data.
But if I am not a real expert in wine markets, the result I get from this multitude of information is only one, which is confusion. If I think I can transform this confusion into awareness, then the result becomes worse and turns into an artificial hallucination that actually belongs to the user. Another precious use of AI is data analysis with its corresponding possible comments, provided that there is a high competence on the subject.
A classic example on this front is the analysis of corporate financial statements. There is no doubt that AI is now enabling economic and financial analyses in very short times that would require days or weeks without its use. But I think it is quite agreeable to realize that without a clear specialization, you might obtain correct scenarios that mean absolutely nothing to you. This is especially true in the wine sector, where business models often significantly condition the analysis capacity.
Another precious use of AI is in all those routine activities, such as giving quick answers to simple questions. A classic example in our wine tourism world is the answers to give to potential guests who request simple info like opening hours and proposed experiences. Today a simple chatbot can extraordinarily accelerate the response process to potential clients by guaranteeing a 24-hour service. It is clear that we cannot delegate more complex and articulated answers to AI where the human factor is crucial.
I realize I could go on forever with the useful uses of AI, but in the end the essential condition remains always the same, which is a very high level of competence. If you think about it, this is also the determining factor to prevent dangerous improvisers from hiding behind self-styled experts. In an increasingly complex world, superficiality is a very dangerous enemy. Finally, let me say that in a country like ours, AI risks delivering the final blow with a thousand extraordinary justifications.
Key points
- Genuine expertise remains irreplaceable for correctly interpreting the vast amount of data provided by artificial intelligence.
- Without deep knowledge, relying on AI tools often leads to confusion and dangerous professional hallucinations.
- Routine automated tasks are the safest applications for AI, freeing up time for complex human decision-making.
- A superficial approach to AI risks masking incompetence and hiding dangerous improvisations behind advanced technology.
