Internet into pieces: between opportunities and risks
Internet into pieces: between opportunities and risks
Article by Francesco Berlucchi
«The other day, for fun, my son asked artificial intelligence to write two articles on the euro, one in Prodi's style and one in Tremonti's style. Two excellent articles came out, better than I would have written: for Tremonti, I don't know....». Former Prime Minister and European Commission President Romano Prodi made the audience smile with this example. A non-trivial way to explain the potential of artificial intelligence, which he calls «a total change of society.» And the risks: «The problem is that it is in undemocratic command for now.» The reflection is made during the presentation of Vittorio Bertola and Stefano Quintarelli's book, Internet Made in Pieces, sponsored by the Humane Technology Lab. The subtitle, Digital Sovereignty, Nationalisms, and Big Tech, anticipates much of what the reader will find in the 144 pages of the volume published by Bollati Boringhieri. «The reason we cared to do this book is to signal that the direction needs to be understood, pondered, and, if possible, controlled,» Vittorio Bertola explains. «These companies are now comparable in size or even larger than states. So they are also a political power. They heavily influence the decisions made in Brussels and worldwide. And they tend, in some ways, to replace the state. Are we sure this is the model we want to arrive at?»
The argument, adds Stefano Quintarelli, does not only apply to Google, Meta, Alphabet, and other giants. «In the last two decades, our material dimension of the world has been enriched by an immaterial dimension that has become the main user interface,» Quintarelli says. «If you buy a tractor today, you buy two things: atoms, passed by hand in a physical place, and a license to use the software. The latter is a contract between you and the vendor that limits you on the risk of discontinuing the software that runs the tractor. A small slice of its value passes through Italy, but the bulk of the value of the tractor is the intangible dimension. Whatever software contains always includes a part that we buy and apart, under a license to use, that decides the rules of the game.»
«This volume could be used as a textbook for kids,» Sky journalist Mariangela Pira comments. «Considering the large technology companies in Italy, in 2020 their profit was between 3.8 and 4.4 billion euros. Against this, the taxes paid amounted to about 70 mln. We prepared a report on Sky TG24, and by cross-referencing data from the Ministry of Finance, we discovered that a big tech was paying the same taxes as a hotel in the Province of Savona.» «Society must defend itself and put rules in place,» says Prodi, who reiterates, «A revolution is underway, with aspects that are not predictable.» So the authors think about future scenarios and possible solutions, stimulated by the many questions from students. «Our action as individual active citizens is also crucial,» they respond. «It is not easy to live without Google, for example, but it is important to make conscious use of it.»
