Yes, AI will change our world. With Filippo Lubrano, entrepreneur and tech expert.

Yes, AI is the new sheriff in town. It’s not only a matter of investments, still going strong into the industry, from the established tech players to so many start-ups, whose most famous one is OpenAI, which flexes its muscles at a $500 Bill valuation this year. It’s not only a matter of adoption, both at the B2B and B2C levels, asking the global economy to upskill, accelerate, and rethink the role of humans. It’s also a cultural change, which shows up more evidently in New Gen-s, digitally native and raised with their favorite chatbot, which helps them navigate through life, from the small tasks to all existential decisions. This is why we speak with Filippo Lubrano, a true Renaissance Man, who uses, teaches, and preaches tech for a living. This is our exchange.

Filippo, tells us a bit about you and your journey

I started my career in the corporate world, right after my BA in Engineering. I spent 8 years at Iveco, an automotive and industrial large global player, looking after various markets in Africa, Middle East, and then APAC. I left and created my own start-up, in the US, New York City more precisely. It was 2016-17. After that, I went into consulting first, then entrepreneurship, which is what I enjoy the most. My first venture was in cybersecurity, with a lot of AI applied to it, even before AI became so hyped up. In 2023 I founded Metaphora, which sells products and services in the field of ‘complementary reality’, supporting humans with all sorts of tech tools and products, including training and upskilling.

In parallel, I teach at H-Farm, a known university in Italy (after a first sting as a Professor at the University of Torino). I cover topics such as the ethics of AI, prompting, space economy, and how our world with change with the advent of exponential technologies. I do some writing, as well. My last book went out a couple of years ago, called ‘Anthropology for Artificial Intelligences’ (D Editore). In La Spezia, Liguria, where I live, I am a member of an artistic collective, called Mitilanti, dedicated to poetry. As a matter of fact, I try to inject a touch of art in all things I do. It’s my signature touch.

Let’s talk AI and its impact on the future of work. 

Let’s mention three trends that are very likely to impact our world. First, AI has a lot to do with a complete automation of work. This is feasible and, probably, a must have in the knowledge economy. We will have fewer people doing menial and bureaucratic tasks. But this goes without saying. We need efficiencies and speed in jobs with low value added. It doesn’t mean that we will lose our jobs, even though the job market is changing already, especially for entry level positions. In the US, newly graduated students struggle to land a first job. This may create a gap in the long term, with shortage of qualified people to fill the ranks of those who retire.

Secondly, younger generations may risk delegating a bit too much to their machines. Today, 2/3 of students claim to be using AI at school. I have done a small experiment in my class. I created groups and gave them Claude, Gemini, Chat GPT, but with one control group not having the chance to use any AI. The task was a simple piece writing exercise. Without AI students had issues putting together a very well thought through output. It’s early days for sure. We may incur into the risk of cognitive atrophy. We may change, as humans, if we become used not having to do at least some minimal creative work. Thirdly, again on writing, our style of laying down thoughts, debating or exchanging is evolving. It’s what Professor Luciano Floridi calls the ‘distant writing’. We will become better prompter than writers. Most texts are written with the help of AI. We are starting to mimick AI. What’s the risk we should carefully monitor? A leveling towards the bottom of our expressive abilities.

There are risks, as you well point out. What suggestions would you give the reader to adopt AI in a healthy fashion?

Let’s start from the school environment. There are some professors, who are resistant to the use of AI. That reminds me of Plato. In his ‘Fedro’, he describes how Socrates was contrary to the adoption of writing, as it could harm our ability to memorize things. Memory was the way to transmit information, until then. AI is a helper, and it can help us developing new muscles and new skills or discovering new sources and work. We probably need to rethink education and teaching, rather than stopping this revolution. If homework is done with the boost of AI, in class we can focus on presentation skills or exchange, more than writing. We need to retrain professors and students.

When it comes to business, it’s urgent to find a solution to the ‘bring your own AI to work’. The risk of sharing with LLM-s, open or closed, confidential information is real. Companies need to identify quickly a path to AI, a map of all tools, and certify them, to protect company, employees and fans.

Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future? 

I am optimistic. We need to be careful with AI, obviously. A lot of things that can go wrong. That’s why companies, institutions, media, all of them have to build awareness around these trends. Every one of us should study, deep and wide, these technologies. You may feel overwhelmed sometimes. It’s possible, it’s at reach. The potential is immense. Let’s think of AI’s applications in the medical field. Last year, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry went to Demis Hassabis, an informatician, for its AlphaFold, a powerful tool to predict the creation of proteins. This changes research and medicine overall, if we are honest. There is a lot to be excited about. We live in an era that Dario Amodei (Anthropic) calls ‘the compressed century’. It’s going to be a sprint for innovation and tech advancements. But human hands will always be needed. We need to lead this.

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