Unforgettable Knowledge: The Legacy of Italian Companies and Entrepreneurs in Argentina is the title of an exhibition that opened on 24 June at the Italian Cultural Institute in Buenos Aires. Curated by Francesca Fauri and Donatella Strangio, the exhibition tells the story of Italian emigration to Argentina, particularly through the experience of some of the great names of Italian industrial excellence that arrived in the country in the second half of the nineteenth century. One of these was Pirelli, which was founded in Milan in 1872 and soon acquired an international calling, taking its first steps in Argentina in 1898 with the appointment of a local sales agent, Alvaro Company. In 1910, after taking part in the Centennial International Exposition in Buenos Aires, Pirelli opened its first commercial branch in Calle Esmeralda 940 in the capital. In 1917 the Buenos Aires branch was transformed into a manufacturing company, Pirelli SA Platense, based in Calle Santa Fe. The company chairman was Giuseppe Pediali, an Italian engineer who had moved to Buenos Aires in the early twentieth century. A factory for the production of electrical cables was opened in 1919 on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, in Calle Donato Alvarez and in 1921, with the take-over of a factory already operating in Calle Costa Rica, production expanded to include a number of rubber products. 1930 saw the opening of the La Rosa factory, which was considerably expanded over time, in the porteño district of Mataderos. A new company, Industrias Pirelli SAIC started manufacturing tyres in 1948, and it was followed in 1950 by the Compañia Platense de Neumaticos (COPLAN), which emerged from a partnership with the US Rubber Company, which moved its production to the Merlo plant. The company and the factory were later taken over entirely by Pirelli and are still operating today. In 2021, Pirelli celebrated 111 years of operations in Argentina with the opening of a motorcycle tyre production division and significant investments in the Merlo plant.

The exhibition includes reproductions of photographs from our Historical Archive, showing the Pirelli offices and factories in Argentina from the 1920s to the 1950s, as well as some covers of the house organ for the staff in Argentina, Paginas Pirelli, which can also be seen on our website.

“When I first arrived in Italy, industrialists were still entrusting their advertising to illustrators and painters. We were some of the first to introduce modern graphics and a coordinated corporate image, which is a mixture of company interior architecture, design, and advertising”, was how the Dutchman Bob Noorda, born in 1927, recalled his arrival in Milan in the early 1950s.

His rationalist-style training (his professors came from the Bauhaus school), and his experiments to find orderly, structured solutions, were just some of the reasons why Noorda was able to establish himself so quickly. The entrepreneurial spirit of Milan in the 1950s proved to be fertile ground for graphic artists and designers. They were able to create advertisements with a robust design approach, making the communication easy to read, and they could impose the graphic element as a recognisable sign, eliminating anything superfluous: clean lines, in perfect harmony with the context, fully express the concept of “coordinated design” that was so dear to the community of graphic artists at the time.

Pirelli commissioned a huge number of works from Noorda and appointed him as its art director in 1961: it was he who created the poster for the Cinturato in 1959, with the wheel turning towards the right, and he who made the advertising campaigns with the N+R tyre and with the Rolle.

Noorda managed to open up space and use colour as well. His lines became more flexible and his powerful blacks gradually gave way to nuances of grey. This led to what was termed “soft” advertisements, which created a feeling of lightness, as can be seen in the advertisement for the “ball for champions“. In other cases, such as the advertisement for belts for threshing machines, the graphic element is multiplied, creating space-time dilations and giving the image a great sense of movement.

Two books dedicated to the relationship Olivetti had with art narrate the spirit of a unique enterprise

The factory seen as a production site for culture and beauty, too, without concealing the hardship inherent in work and manufacturing, but actually juxtaposing it to the search for its more compelling and meaningful aspects.  Olivetti certainly is one of the most prominent and significant examples of such a production culture, which recreates itself every day, learns from the past and plans for the future. As such, learning as much as we can from Olivetti’s experience – through objects, images, texts, and the impressions gathered by Adriano Olivetti’s work, life and company – it’s a very useful undertaking.

This is also why reading the series of books dedicated to Olivetti e la cultura dell’impresa responsabile (Olivetti and responsible corporate culture), is both interesting and significant. So much so that the town council of Ivrea has decided to ‘translate’ them into a number of exhibitions and publications (a lengthy, complex effort made possible thanks to the collaboration with the Olivetti Historical Archive Association, Olivetti/TIM and the Garda di Ivrea Municipal Museum).

They all revolve around the artworks collected by Olivetti, now made available to the general public. A wealth of cultural heritage that includes artworks, documents, footage and photographs commissioned by the Olivetti society, and which asserts the value of culture as a factor in society’s growth – from factory to territory.

The recently published second volume (out of six), concerns the collaboration between Olivetti and Belgian artist Folon, selected as the emblematic example of the kind of relationship the company builds with contemporary artists. In 1969, Folon illustrated the first desk diary for Olivetti, as well as two gift books in the 1970s and then a calendar. He worked a long time for the company, focused on its graphics and design, and created the graphic artwork for its posters, gifts, gadgets, and advertising campaigns. An important alliance between enterprise and artist, which in this book (and at the exhibition in Ivrea) finds its perfect expression through colours, concepts, innovative graphics and challenging images.

This volume, focused on the relationship between Olivetti and Folon follows another one – part of the same initiative – that showcases the Olivetti Collection’s artworks, a collection that attempted to concretise and actualise the notion of beauty, a notion that should always exist in factories and offices.

Adriano Olivetti, the volumes’ preambles explain, thought that knowledge, beauty – or “grace”, in one word – should always accompany the days and hours of all the human beings that surrounded him, of all those people he met in the factories and around the world. Olivetti, in other words, believed he had to give back as “grace” what he was given by fate, and to those who asked him what the opposite of sin was, he replied, without hesitation, that it was not “virtue” but “grace”. He thought that generating beauty was a duty.

Indeed, the two books  in this series dedicated to Olivetti and responsible corporate culture impeccably narrate this human and entrepreneurial adventure.

Olivetti e la cultura dell’impresa responsabile. La Collezione Olivetti (Olivetti and responsible corporate culture. The Olivetti Collection)

Stefano Sertoli , Costanza Casali (curated by)
Paola Mantovani, Marcella Turchetti (testi) Paola Mantovani, Marcella Turchetti (texts)

Allemandi, 2021

Olivetti e la cultura dell’impresa responsabile. Olivetti e l’arte: Jean-Michel Folon (Olivetti and responsible corporate culture. Olivetti and art: Jean-Michel Folon)

Stefano Sertoli , Costanza Casali (curated by)
Paola Mantovani, Marcella Turchetti (testi) Paola Mantovani, Marcella Turchetti (texts)

Allemandi, 2022

A contribution by the Bank of Italy summarises the issues we face and the paths we should take

Production and distribution, within a complex and volatile landscape where one has to deal with the long-term consequences of change, as well as the usual economic constrictions. This is what happens nowadays (and it not only affects businesses but, in fact, every facet of a large part of developed societies). Piero Cipollone, deputy director of the Bank of Italy, explores this tangle of issues in his contribution entitled “Transizione energetica, finanza e clima: sfide e opportunità” (“Energy transition, finance and climate: challenges and opportunities”).

Cipollone’s argument first tackles the theme of climate change and its impact on the economy, and beyond. From there, the Bank of Italy’s deputy director goes on to examine the economic policies adopted and as such the role of central banks and finance as they grapple with a difficult balance between economic efficiency and effectiveness while also trying to meet environmental goals.

The contribution then proceeds to examine the “challenges” that the economic and social system is facing: first of all, the expansion of sustainable financial tools, then the reliability of data and finally the need to promptly solve a number of pressing issues. Next, Cipollone reiterates the necessity to take notice of how much companies and society are aware of the situation they find themselves in.

Underlying it all, explains the author, there is a need to develop “green finance” practices as a more evolved and different way to understand the economy and production culture. Cipollone writes in his conclusion that “Green finance is also an intellectual challenge requiring financial institutions to integrate new knowledge and information derived from other scientific fields into their standard expertise.” And it is precisely such an open attitude that makes this contribution by the Bank of Italy’s deputy director so intriguing – as well as, of course, the topics it addresses. An attitude bent on outlining a new culture of production and a novel way to conceive the relationships between society and enterprises, as well as between politics, economy and society, and which needs to be discussed, but also welcomed.

Transizione energetica, finanza e clima: sfide e opportunità (“Energy transition, finance and climate: challenges and opportunities”)

Piero Cipollone

Bank of Italy, 21 June 2022

“Culture is not superfluous, it’s a distinguishing element of Italian identity” – these are the words that Italian president Sergio Mattarella used in his inauguration speech and that were reiterated last week in Turin, during the Stati Generali della Cultura (General assembly on culture) organised by newspaper IlSole24Ore. A chance to discuss with prominent figures from institutions and businesses, as well as cultural and information bodies, how to enhance Italy’s wealth of humanist and scientific knowledge and use them as leverage for sustainable environmental and social development.

Indeed, Italian identity is a complex and candid one, dialectical, the unique result of a mix of different and often conflicting elements. It’s both Mediterranean and Mitteleuropean, intensely marked by its Greek and Latin roots and yet also influenced by other worlds. It’s contentious and inclusive, aware of history yet also prone to innovation. Its attitude entails the future of memory – hoping that the past has a future (as per the unforgettable teachings of Leonardo Sciascia). Its key feature consists of blending a sense of beauty, creativity, industriousness, entrepreneurial spirit and the fulfilment of a good quality of life.

These are major themes that concern both Italy and Europe and that, fortunately, recur in public debate (though, unfortunately, much less than they should within the context of political and government choices). They were discussed at the General Assembly in Turin but also in Treia, a beautiful town in the Marche region, at the annual Symbola seminar, which focused on sustainability topics, and will continue to be present in the many festivals dedicated to books and culture that, every summer, crowd the agenda of several cities and tourist destinations pretty much all over Italy.

Beauty and culture. Literature and science. Artistic creativity and scientific knowledge. Awareness of one’s roots (“To have been is a condition for being”, taught us Fernand Braudel, one of the major 20^th-century historians) and forward-looking vision towards change. A future-oriented history, indeed, as per the significant title of the book curated by the Pirelli Foundation, published by Marsilio, which narrates 150 years of life of a great Italian multinational and its prospects for the future (including essays and accounts by, among others, Jan McEwan, David Weinberger, Renzo Piano, Salvatore Accardo, Ernesto Ferrero, Monica Maggioni, Bruno Arpaia, Giuseppe Lupo, Maria Cristina Messa, Ferruccio Resta, Guido Saracco, etc.).

Here’s the crux of the matter: the role of an enterprise as cultural subject, as creative agent for culture. A beneficent enterprise, that is, able to make investments aimed at safeguarding and enhancing the cultural heritage, in both public and private terms. A cultural enterprise, with entrepreneurial and managerial skills suitable to the management of cultural activities (museums, cinemas, theatres, music, visual arts, publishing, etc.), as well as business more in general – this, if we take culture not just as a narrative but also as a chemical formulas, the creation of new materials, productive processes, new products or services, corporate museums and historical archives as competitive assets, employment contracts, unique governance choices, the discovery and application of new languages in the fields of marketing, advertising and communication.

Culture not as a thing, but as a way to do things (as exemplified by Angelo Guglielmi, sophisticated and popular intellectual as well as great TV innovator).

Culture, to give an example, also entails the sustainable shift made by a major iron and steel group like Arvedi, the first green steelworks in the world, certified at international level as net-zero emissions: “A symbol of the success that can be achieved – and in economic terms, too – by Italian companies that build a close relationship with their territory and that have understood how strategic a focus on sustainability is for financial success”, states Ermete Realacci, president of Symbola.

Sustainability as a choice of productivity and competitiveness on global markets that are becoming increasingly selective, as a set of values that generate economic wealth and social responsibility – good corporate culture, basically.

In fact, a strong “polytechnic culture” is indispensable, so that Italy can re-establish and strengthen the foundations of its own development path, precisely in these times of radical crises, of great geopolitical changes, of industrial and social rifts and of much needed economic and social paradigm shifts, in order to face uncertainty and, looking beyond its vulnerabilities, create the conditions for a fairer and stronger circular and civil economy. A culture that intermingles humanities and scientific knowledge. A new “industrial humanism” that, as it evolves towards an extensive use of Artificial Intelligence, can also be termed “digital humanism”.

Enterprise is always at its heart: data driven, that is, steered by a clever use of data in terms of research, production, services, logistics, relationships with the market and consumption. It needs algorithms designed by engineers, neuroscientists, statisticians, philosophers, jurors and – why not? – by intellectuals who know how to blend efficient results with an understanding of the direction and values we should follow. Mathematics and ethics. Productivity and the whole range of consequences on which a company builds its unique social standing. Experimentation and narration – that is, sustainability.

What’s all this if not culture?

The challenge that we face, as women and men of culture and business, but also as citizens/spectators/lovers of art as an expression of beauty, is not only to learn to coexist with innovation but, above all, to actively be involved in the construction of new ways to participate in and enjoy cultural activities, to engage, with both a critical and constructive attitude, with the identification of unique forms of popular culture: new languages, new ways to build cultural processes, new relationships between the past and cutting-edge technologies – for a new and better civilisation.

The Paris Expo in 1900 and the one in St Louis in 1904 were followed by one in Liège, Belgium, in 1905. Italy took part only on the sidelines, however, and Pirelli did not show up. Towards the end of 1906, a new exhibition was announced for 1910, again in Belgium, but this time in Brussels. The National Committee for Italian Exports and Exhibitions immediately started preparing for Italy’s official participation in the event, and its work was endorsed by law on 10 June 1909. In the autumn of that year, however, another international exhibition was announced. The expo was to be held in the city of Buenos Aires, starting in the spring of 1910, to celebrate the centenary of the Argentine Republic. The National Committee signed up to it, for it could see the political and commercial benefits of having Italian producers take part in the event in South America. Having two expos at the same time caused many logistical headaches, particularly in the “cars and cycles” section at the Brussels Expo, where initial registrations would have been enough to cover an area of over 1,000 square metres. However, when the Buenos Aires event was announced, all the exhibitors opted to take part in it. It was only with great difficulty that it was possible to ensure the participation of a few firms in Brussels. These included Pirelli, which showed its tyres, accessories for cars and bicycles, and sportswear in waterproof fabric, in the “international gallery” of the Italian section reserved for motoring, cycling and sports items. Its activities in the cable sector were illustrated with a display of 14 photographs that showed the electrical substation in the factory and the one on board the Città di Milano cable-laying ship, the laying of electricity cables beneath the Nile, and the Ontario Power Co. plant in Niagara. The display also included views of the main factories (in Milan, La Spezia, Villanueva y la Geltrù in Spain and the new plant in Greco Milanese – which is that of Bicocca), and the photograph of workers leaving the factory in Milan taken by Luca Comerio.

The Buenos Aires Expo opened in May, with sections devoted to “Railways and Land Transport”, “Fine Arts”, “Agriculture”, and “Hygiene and Medicine”. Pirelli had been exporting to Argentina for over twenty years and in 1910 it opened a branch office, which it entrusted to its agent, the Alvaro Company. It naturally viewed the Expo with great interest. Alberto Pirelli wrote to the agent on 16 August 1909, saying: “Of all the Italian companies that can take part in an event devoted to means of transport – including the transport of electricity – we are one of those that exports the most to South America, we are in a position to compete in almost every sector, and we are willing to participate in a serious manner.” Pirelli managed to secure a  stand in an excellent position in the Italian Pavilion. Two areas were reserved for the company on the right and left of the central corridor, opposite the main entrance of the pavilion. The show included tyres, cables and technical items in rubber, the model of the Città di Milano cable-laying ship, which had been shown at the 1900 Paris Expo, and the photographs and factory views that had been displayed in Brussels. 10,000 brochures on the Peking to Paris race were sent to Buenos Aires (the winning car was on show at the Itala stand), as were 20,000 brochures with views of the company’s factories, to be handed out to the public. A film made on the suggestion of and by the National Committee for Exhibitions was screened at the Expo cinema, with the aim, as we read in a letter dated 22 April 1910, of “using projections and cinematographic spectacles to show other countries both the natural and artistic beauty of Italy, and the industrial development of our country”. A 50-metre film showed workers leaving the factory in Milan. Furthermore, thanks to its partnerships with car manufacturers, Pirelli ensured that all Italian cars and bicycles at the exhibition were fitted with Pirelli tyres.

1910 brought superb results for Pirelli abroad, as well as important awards, which were given both in Brussels – where the company won two Grand Prix diplomas and a bronze medal – and in Buenos Aires, where it obtained three Grand Prix diplomas, four honorary diplomas and two Gold Medal diplomas. Its success was by now widely acknowledged around the world.

The bond between the silver screen and the world of racing goes back a long way. The twentieth century celebrated the “beauty of speed” and, from the Futurists onwards, the thrill of racing only increased as the decades went by. What better than cinema, the art of the moving image, could convey the dynamism of motor racing? From the 1950s and 1960s, when the economic boom made cars ubiquitous, car journeys became a staple in films, with seaside holidays, racing along the motorway, and nail-biting car chases. In some cases, also Formula 1 races, which started up in the 1950s, came to the fore in feature films, such as the 1955 film The Racers, which arrived in Italy under the title “Destino sull’asfalto”. It was shot during tests for the 1954 Belgian Grand Prix, with the Swiss Toulo de Graffenried taking part as a stunt double for Kirk Douglas in a Maserati A6GCM fitted out as a camera car. Also in Italy, in 1951, Gianni Franciolini shot a melodrama film on the Monza circuit, called Last Meeting, of which we have some backstage shots in our Historical Archive, showing Jean-Pierre Aumont, Amedeo Nazzari and a young Alida Valli, back in Italy after her time in Hollywood. The screenplay, to which Alberto Moravia contributed, was based on the novel La biondina (1893) by Marco Praga. The actors included some illustrious names from the world of car racing, such as Juan Manuel Fangio, Nino Farina, Consalvo Sanesi and Felice Bonetto, who all played themselves, and, as a brief piece in Pirelli magazine recalled, Pirelli mechanics and tyres could be seen everywhere “as modest but indispensable… extras”.

During those same years, rallying also entered the world of cinema, this time not on the big screen but by organising a car race that, from 1954, saw the most famous Italian actors at the wheel, in pairs. Mike Bongiorno, Gina Lollobrigida, Sophia Loren, Raf Vallone, Renato Rascel and Eleonora Ruffo, to name but a few. Over the years, many competed to be the first to reach the chequered flag in a stage race, often having to get the better of fans who would do anything to get an autograph from their movie idols. Our Historical Archive contains precious photographic documentation of the 1957 race, showing the actors Roberto Risso and Magali Noël, the future “Gradisca” in Fellini’s Amarcord, with their Fiat TV no. 2. We also see the actress Marisa Allasio, fresh from her great success in Poveri ma belli and Belle ma povere by Dino Risi, appear next to a Pirelli Technical Assistance vehicle. Later that year it was none other than Marisa Allasio who – with Nunzio Filogamo and Fiorella Mari – presented the Sanremo Festival, before definitively abandoning the stage in 1958. But she remained forever in the hearts of Italians, together with the other great actresses – and great actors – who have lit up the firmament of the “seventh art”.

A meeting with several speakers, on the subject of “When History Builds the Future: Pirelli, 150 Years of Industry, Innovation, and Culture”, was held at 11 a.m. today in the wonderful setting of the Sala Alessi in the Palazzo Marino, in Milan. The mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala, the executive vice president and chief executive officer of Pirelli, Marco Tronchetti Provera, and many other representatives of the institutions and of the academic world looked back over 150 years of a company whose history has on several occasions become intertwined with that of Italy and the world, looking to the future through the lens of innovation. Minister Maria Cristina Messa and European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Paolo Gentiloni spoke remotely, adding their voices to those who were there in person with Ferruccio Resta, the rector of the Politecnico di Milano University, and the journalist Silvia Boccardi. The moderator was the director of the Pirelli Foundation, Antonio Calabrò. The discussion was enlivened by the screening of photographs and videos by Carlo Furgeri Gilbert, taken from our Historical Archive. These showed the forms, patterns, movements and colours of raw materials, but also experiments and people, art and culture, sport and technical innovation. They illustrated the industrial humanism that has been a fundamental aspect of Pirelli in every area of its research and in its technological development of processes and products in the rubber sector ever since 1872.

“In its history and, we are convinced, in its future, Pirelli is two things at the same time: it is quintessentially Milanese, and therefore very Italian, as well as being extremely international. In other words, it fully reflects the fundamental characteristics of this city, where Pirelli was born and where it grew up and immediately started looking out at the world” – Antonio Calabrò, Director of the Pirelli Foundation and head of Pirelli Institutional Affairs

“Companies with such a long and meaningful history – those that have been through times of error and moments of glory, and that know how the world works in all its countless forms – should be viewed with great interest and called upon to do their duty.” – Giuseppe Sala, Mayor of Milan

“This story shows us the true importance of Giovanni Battista Pirelli’s determination, strength, skill and entrepreneurship a hundred and fifty years ago. But it also shows us how important study, knowledge and science can be when it comes to making any decision. And this is a fundamental concept when knowledge and competence lead to innovation” – Maria Cristina Messa, Minister of University and Research

“During this century and a half of history, Pirelli has managed to interpret the epochal changes that have swept through both production processes and society: from the great industrial transformations to the rise of globalisation and digital technologies through to today’s leadership with regard to climate change. Pirelli’s experience offers a useful example that will help guide our economic and industrial policies” – Paolo Gentiloni, European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs

“The making of a company is always the making of the future” – Marco Tronchetti Provera, Executive Vice President, Chief Executive Officer of Pirelli

“Pirelli and the Politecnico University have worked along shared lines and some special research projects were started up fifteen years ago. The first was for the cyber tyre – a tyre with internal sensors that connected the vehicle to the infrastructure. This is what we would now call “digital transformation”. The second was into natural materials – or what we now call “green transformation”. We may not have used these words back then but the work certainly opened up a new dimension. And I would add a third dimension: these two technologies also meant thinking about how tyres needed to be made, so also the factory needed to change. And this called for an “industrial transition”, which meant accompanying the green transition and the digital transition as they changed both the labour market and the factory” – Ferruccio Resta, Rector of the Politecnico University of Milan

“These, days, consumers are no longer passive. They are extremely mindful, which means that companies must – and indeed do – have a new role to play in society. To some extent this also runs alongside that of the institutions, and indeed it must run alongside that of the institutions. At the same time, people must consume mindfully and thus put pressure on companies to renew themselves and keep up with the times” – Silvia Boccardi, Journalist and Social Equity Expert at Will Media

A doctoral thesis looking at CSS applied in Italian foundries

Working well even in difficult situations. And not only to achieve the optimum results, but to thrive in one’s work. These are the ideas that Leonardo Ciocca worked on in his psychology PhD thesis discussed at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan. Ciocca explored a particular aspect of good corporate culture: managing to make even difficult and dangerous production environments liveable, respecting each role, focussing on results but also on people.

The paper, the research summary explains, explores the constructs of Corporate Social Sustainability (“CSS”) culture and sustainability of organisational life in Italian foundries, which are regarded by the sector literature as high-risk organisations. This is one of the crucial points of Ciocca’s work: taking difficult and risky production conditions as the subject of the research. Foundries, he explains, are commonly perceived as “3D Industries: Dirty, Dusty and Dangerous’, with little regard for environmental, social and economic sustainability. Ciocca’s hypothesis is that in these environments it is possible to identify cultural elements that can “clean up” a “dirty” job, so as to improve the sustainability of working life and contribute to the transition from “3D Industries” to “3P Industries”: Profit, Planet and People”.

The author first considers the concept of CSS, then the particular field in which it is to be applied, and then the research method to use. The next step was therefore to investigate CSS in Italian foundries, trying to draw both theoretical and operational conclusions.

Ciocca writes in his conclusions that the application of CSS to these particular environments “offers opportunities to improve working conditions and increase organisational well-being in foundry companies”, in addition to this, “it has been noted that this positively impacts on health and safety protection conditions of the staff involved, a factor that could translate into increasing the attractiveness of the sector for young workers, as well as an improvement in the sector’s reputation in the eyes of public opinion and of the workers themselves’. For Ciocca, then, the big challenge “is guiding foundries to invest in the sustainability of staff and the culture of CSS, supporting their employees, especially those in management and responsibility roles, through training courses that combine management aspects (…) and the protection of employees (…)”. A difficult path to put into practice, which involves the “evolution of management and management policies” and then the “overhaul of the plant and technological side”.

Tute pulite per un lavoro sporco. Culture della Corporate Social Sustainability nelle fonderie italiane (A clean suit for dirty work. Corporate Social Sustainability culture in Italian foundries)

Leonardo Ciocca

Thesis, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milan, PhD Course in Psychology, Cycle XXXIV, 2020

Just translated and out in Italy, this is a book that delves into the realities and impact of Artificial Intelligence

Robots or in other words, Artificial Intelligence. In our everyday lives and in the work of companies. AI is the most recent industrial revolution that, like its predecessors, both fascinates and frightens, and must be understood and managed, however it is approached. To do this, you might want to carefully read “The Rule of Robots. How Artificial Intelligence Will Transform Everything” written by Martin Ford, one of the most thoughtful and disenchanted experts of the subject, who in a few hundred pages that can almost be read in one sitting, has managed to illustrate the reality of AI, its advantages and its considerable risks . In addition to explaining the need for governance to be put in place.

Ford first explains and describes the various roles of Robots. This includes the invention of driverless cars, applications that translate incomprehensible writing into meaningful sentences, homes that switch on lights and heating at our command, the complete automation of restaurants and supermarkets, the manufacture of weapons capable of killing without human intervention, disinfectant robots capable of eliminating all bacteria from hospital rooms, algorithms used in personnel selection, discoveries in the chemical, health and energy fields made possible by deep learning and sophisticated facial recognition systems used by governments to identify political opponents. Ford does not forget AGI, the “Artificial general intelligence” that, if realised, would allow a machine to communicate, reason and conceive ideas on a human level or even higher.

What is perhaps most important about Ford’s book, however, is the series of insights into some crucial phases of AI. Its control, its effects on labour and business, on social living, on climate change, its positive power to solve a number of crucial issues for all of us provided it is guided well and democratically.

Martin’s book only appears like a journey into the world of robots, because it is actually a serious analysis of what AI really is and what it could be.

Rule of the Robots. How Artificial Intelligence Will Transform Everything

Martin Ford

il Saggiatore, 2022