The ITI can only look with great attention to the development of the various applications related to AI and the contexts that can be influenced by them. This is a context in continuous evolution, which will probably experience a significant acceleration in the coming years, still not very definable.
So, when you ask President Oliviero Pesenti directly whether AI is currently more of a harbinger of possibilities or a source of problems, he prefers to look at the positive aspects, without excluding the possible problems. "For industry, artificial intelligence certainly represents an opportunity, if only because ours is a sector linked to technologies. We must also consider that in the field of AI we are probably still at the beginning of a development cycle of technologies destined to change the world of production and work. Therefore, it is important for companies to be able to count on specialists who know how to support and direct companies towards the opportunities of AI that will gradually develop. In principle, I therefore believe that in every sector we must look at the so-called glass half full, even if I do not deny that a crucial area in which institutions must also have their say is that of the legal, ethical and security boundaries that must be set for a correct and conscious use of artificial intelligence".
For companies, possible ways could be to train their employees internally or to turn to experts, perhaps from USI and SUPSI. «Several companies have already entered into the subject, others have not yet done so. Both situations are valid. The necessary personnel must be trained – and here there must certainly be an increased commitment from the school in its various orders, not only the academic one. On the other hand, it is correct and proper for companies to turn to specialists already active on the market, who are invaluable for their skills», is Pesenti's opinion.
Among the sectors that are benefiting and will benefit most from the implementation of various technologies related to artificial intelligence (a world much more varied than the most well-known applications such as ChatGPT, as Barni further specified), he cites «design and production», going into more detail: «in various industrial branches, the customization of production is making its way, think for example of the pharmaceutical sector. Artificial intelligence in this sense will provide a decisive contribution. I imagine the importance of AI also in security with regard to the various corporate functions. But given that the developments of AI are rapid and of still unknown scope, we cannot say today what will really happen».
From an overview by Andrea Barni, digital coach at Fondazione Agire, the corporate and industrial sectors are currently using artificial intelligence to optimize the supply chain, to improve customer service and personalize offers, to increase the efficiency of production lines, to predict maintenance and to optimize energy management. Banks, the world of education and healthcare are also taking advantage of it.
The conditio sine qua non to be able to seize the present and especially future opportunities, as also underlined by Barni, is digitalization. At what point are Ticino companies? For Pesenti, «as mentioned before, the diffusion of AI is still in its early stages. Digitalization processes now concern all companies; for those more directly linked to AI, the same cannot yet be said. Training is certainly crucial and companies will quickly need specialists».
Looking at the immediate repercussions on the industrial world in Ticino and in general, «technological development has always served to make machines do repetitive and dangerous tasks. Then we moved on to precision and extreme precision work», he notes, convinced that «the new frontier dictated by digitalization and artificial intelligence is to create many new possibilities that do not exist or are very difficult, if not impossible, to achieve with traditional production methods. For example, product geometries that make them more efficient in terms of energy use, products capable of regenerating themselves, exponential computing capabilities that create new applications, etc». On the other hand, Pesenti does not hide existing risks in terms of job losses, «especially for low or medium-skilled professional positions».
It is understood that profiles with medium-low skills could be penalized, whose workforce may no longer be necessary, with the simultaneous creation of opportunities for professional figures who should, on the contrary, be highly qualified, with specific knowledge in the field of 360-degree AI.
Pesenti believes that the latter could "clarify to the company uses of AI that perhaps the company itself had not thought of", thus contributing indirectly to growth and opening up new scenarios. It is important to be able to train similar figures locally. In this regard, Ticino, at an academic level, seems to be at the forefront. It has moved with great vivacity on the front of university training, giving life at USI to the first Master in Artificial Intelligence in Switzerland, which is enjoying great success with students who easily find work even before the end of their studies and at SUPSI to the Master of Science in Engineering in Data Science and the Bachelor of Science in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence.
In this regard, Pesenti praises the «interesting response of SUPSI, which for some years now has been offering engineering training in data science and artificial intelligence», which he believes is «an important step» but not sufficient: «we certainly need more, even at the level of professional schools and other levels of school».
In short, everyone must be trained in AI, otherwise the risk is of being excluded from the world of work. "We must get to the heart of helping those groups of workers who find themselves in a "middle ground", in terms of age and skills, who need support and training to use new technologies", he is keen to highlight.
As already said, the answer, in his opinion, is therefore training, for everyone: at that point, AI will be an opportunity for growth and not for the loss of jobs, a positive revolution.
