Category: Storytelling
Elon Musk is running an archetypal marathon, embodying more personas than your average mythological pantheon.
First, there’s the Creator – Tesla’s electric revolution proves his Promethean spark. Then the Explorer, shooting for the stars (literally) with SpaceX, his Mars colony dream burning brightly. Enter the Magician: Neurolink’s neural interface taps into our collective sci-fi fantasies, reshaping the mind itself. And, of course, the Ruler, commanding wealth, influence, and a front-row seat in the White House’s new era.
But don’t get too comfortable. Could Musk also be slipping into the Outlaw archetype? The disruptor. The industry shaker. The status-quo annihilator. Fans might call it progress; critics call it chaos. The real question? Whether this polyphonic blend of archetypes leads us to a utopia – or an interstellar dumpster fire. For now, all we can do is sit back and watch the man play every note.
With an announcement that felt straight out of a sci-fi epic, at CES 2025 (the most important tech event in the world) Jensen Huang, president and CEO of Nvidia, unveiled Cosmos, a family of “world foundation models” poised to reshape robotics and autonomous systems. These neural networks don’t just calculate or generate, they predict and create physics-aware virtual environments and tools. Yes, the machines are learning not just to think but to move – because why stop at taking over the Internet when you can conquer the physical world?
“The ChatGPT moment for robotics is coming,” Huang declared, setting the stage for what might be the next great leap in AI. Like language models before them, world foundation models (WFMs) like Cosmos promise to be transformative, enabling next-gen robots and autonomous vehicles that won’t just stumble through your living room but will navigate it with uncanny precision.
To ensure this revolution isn’t reserved for the privileged few, Nvidia is open-sourcing Cosmos. It’s a bold move, putting these tools in the hands of developers everywhere. “We created Cosmos to put general robotics in reach of every developer,” Huang explained, imagining a world where robots are not only smarter but more widely accessible.
At its core, Cosmos is about realism. These WFMs combine data, text, images, video, and motion to create virtual environments so accurate you might start mistaking the simulation for reality. But this isn’t just about creating pretty virtual worlds – it’s about teaching machines how to understand and interact with the real one. From physical interactions to environmental navigation, these models represent a foundational shift in what AI can do.
This perspective is undeniably ambitious and speaks to a broader shift in how AI could impact the physical landscape. If large language models revolutionized the way we process and generate information, world foundation models aim to do the same for robotics and autonomous systems. But are robots truly poised to make this substantive leap into real-world applications? There are promising signs that they are:
-
Improved simulation capabilities. The ability to simulate complex physical environments with high accuracy is a game-changer. Platforms like Cosmos signal that we are closing the gap between training in a virtual space and performing in the real world.
-
Advances in multimodal learning. Huang’s emphasis on combining data from text, images, video, and movement is aligned with the AI trend of multimodal models. By integrating diverse types of input, WFMs can develop a nuanced understanding of the world, making them better suited to handle dynamic environments.
-
Open-source democratization. Nvidia’s decision to open-source Cosmos is a sign that physical AI is moving from niche research labs to broader developer communities. This democratization could accelerate innovation, with startups, researchers, and even hobbyists contributing to the evolution of robotics.
-
Emerging applications. Autonomous vehicles, warehouse robots, and drones are already functioning in semi-controlled real-world environments. The tools provided by Cosmos could help extend these capabilities to less structured spaces, such as homes, cities, or disaster zones.
-
Economic and industry pressure. Robotics development is no longer a theoretical exercise. Industries like logistics, healthcare, and agriculture are actively seeking AI-driven solutions to labor shortages, efficiency bottlenecks, and environmental challenges. This demand is driving funding, research, and practical deployment.
That said, big jumps into the real world are rarely smooth. Robots must contend with unpredictable human behavior, complex environments, and the need for safety and reliability. Transfer learning (moving knowledge from a simulated environment to the real world) remains a technical hurdle. Ethical and regulatory frameworks are also playing catch-up with the pace of technological progress.
Still, Huang’s vision of WFMs as the “missing link” in robotics isn’t just marketing – it’s a reflection of a tangible trend toward AI systems that are not only intelligent but also physically capable. While Cosmos might not single-handedly bring about the “ChatGPT moment” for robotics, it represents a meaningful step toward that goal. The leap into the real world will depend on whether these advances can translate into scalable, reliable, and widely adoptable systems. What’s clear, though, is that we’re no longer asking if this leap will happen, but when.
Hold onto your notebooks – Gen AI is shaking up the storytelling scene, but let’s not hand over the Pulitzer just yet. While it can whip up passable narratives faster than you can say “once upon a time,” the leap from formulaic plotlines to soul-stirring tales remains elusive.
Sure, it can mash together tropes, predict the next plot twist, and mimic your favorite authors with uncanny precision. But ask it to craft a fresh, boundary-pushing masterpiece? That’s where things get… complicated. Gen AI excels at remixing, not inventing from scratch. It can generate a “new” fairy tale, but chances are it borrows heavily from something already in the public domain.
Why the gap? Ask the tools directly, they are aware of the problem. Emotion. Subtlety. That ineffable spark of lived experience. Gen AI reads patterns, but it doesn’t “feel” them the way humans do. Even when it stumbles into brilliance, it’s more happy accident than intentional artistry.
But don’t count it out. The storytelling bots are learning – fast. Future models could integrate sensory data, emotional mapping, and feedback loops that sharpen their narrative instincts. Some predict AI capable of literary-grade fiction within the decade. Others argue that the real breakthrough won’t come from AI replacing authors, but collaborating with them – a digital muse with infinite patience.
Until then, Gen AI remains a plot assistant, not the auteur. It’s a co-pilot for brainstorming sessions, a generator of interesting (if occasionally bizarre) first drafts. The future of storytelling in the foreseeable future? It’s still being written – by humans.
In the first two decades of this century, a number of stories have dominated the world news. Among the most riveting: the Islamic wars fought by the US and its allies after Nine Eleven; the worrying deterioration of the environment caused by climate change; the emergence of China as world power and factory of the planet; the advent of Artificial Intelligence and the danger to your job posed by smarter robots; Brexit, and the prospect of a disintegrating Europe. Still, in the last couple of months the information about those topics (and many others) has been pushed aside by a single narrative. The novel coronavirus is proving to be the greatest story of our time – the most compelling and inescapable.
Besides, Covid-19 is not just ubiquitous in the media: it’s also the issue that dominates private conversations among people. Although it may not be perceived by all, the symbolic power of this story is overwhelming and unprecedented. And for several good reasons.
The number of deaths is only a tragic premise. Internationally, it has already overcome the number of victims from the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 75 years ago. In the US, it‘s already above the number of the fallen of the 20-year-long Viet Nam war. Luckily, it has been contained by all the measures enacted in many countries to limit the pandemic – otherwise it might have climbed to millions. But we still don’t know how it will affect the poorest countries of the world, where the virus has not yet reached its full lethal potential. Checking the progression of this number in the evening news has become an angst-ridden ritual for many – an underlying subtext to the coronavirus story.
And yet, there are many other chapters in this narrative – each contributing a great deal to the drama, although in debatable and potentially divisive ways. Here’s a short analysis of the most relevant ones.
The virus’ origin
Where and when did the novel coronavirus first jump on a human? If the date is being scrutinized (and pushed back to at least October 2019 by recent disclosures), the place is the subject of strong controversy.
As everyone knows, President Trump has called corona “the Chinese virus”, a definition that officials in China find irresponsible. Is the story that Covid-19 originated from a Wuhan wet market credible? Mike Pompeo is skeptical of this hypothesis and suspects an accident occurred at Wuhan’s Institute of Virology. US intelligence agencies (and others) exclude that the virus was man-made or genetically engineered, but are still investigating whether it might have escaped from the Wuhan lab. Zhao Lijian, the spokesperson of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, counters it might be the US Army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan during the Military World Games last fall. As for the Iranians, they are convinced that the virus was cooked up by American scientists to weaken their nation (notwithstanding the high number of deaths in the US). Facts are scarce and conspiracy theories abound, a good recipe for misunderstanding and conflict.
Indeed, the virus’ origin is still a mystery, and the evidence about it appears so far insufficient to prove anything. With patient zero impossible to pinpoint, a lot of the pandemic theme is left to interpretation.
This part of the story may have heavy implications. Trump has already cut the funding of the World Health Organization, on the assumption it failed to take a hasher stance towards China. His administration also suggested it will seek accountability for the spread of the virus and is drawing up plans to punish Beijing on multiple fronts, which might go from additional trade barriers to economic sanctions. China will not accept this idly, and might bring the confrontation to a new unpredictable level. This chapter of the story includes all the components of a geopolitical thriller.
Spread of the disease
Whatever the origin of the pandemic, a lot of media attention has been directed to the notion of ‘social distancing’. Individuals have had to learn what this is, and why it matters. The extremely fast manner Covid-19 spreads across nations has persuaded people everywhere to change their long-established behaviors, quickly adapting to staying at home, avoiding hugs and kisses, keeping one or two meters from one another, wearing masks, and washing hands frequently. That’s not an easy change to impose on 4 billion people in just 2 or 3 months.
At the same time, this part of the story is not exempt from contradictions. By the way, should the distance be one or two meters? Initially Italian authorities told their citizens that one meter was enough. Instead, Israeli authorities said that two meters were needed from the start. How this can have impacted the outcome of the disease is unclear, but subsequent studies have shown that people who sneeze or cough can spread their droplets four meters away, or even more. And it’s a fact that Italy has experienced something like 50 deaths from Covid-19 per 100 thousand inhabitants, whilst Israel just about 3. Most probably other factors concur to this result (for instance, the median age of the population). However, the way social distancing is actually carried out can make a big difference.
Another contentious point is whether lockdowns are really warranted, and what are the human costs of shutting everything down. Here, several questions still go unanswered. The high death toll in countries such as Italy and the UK is attributed to delayed closures, but countries like the Netherlands and Sweden have experienced less deadly outcomes while keeping most activities open. So, is herd immunity a reasonable option or not? And what about children? Are they highly contagious and a big risk to their grandparents, or is this just a disputable, unproved standpoint? The virus story may vary a lot depending on what role children are supposed to play.
Connected to the spreading issue is also the topic of tracing methods. In places like China, Hong Kong, and Singapore, contact tracing has proven very helpful in containing Covid-19. But some apps that work pretty well for that purpose are seen negatively in Western countries as potentially infringing on individuals’ rights to privacy. It’s one thing to use advanced technology to track criminals and terrorists, it’s another to track the movements of any of us. In other words, many don’t seem to agree on making corona’s narrative too similar to a detective story.
Effects of the coronavirus crisis
The virus’ fallout, anyway, is definitely huge. The media nowadays are full of content related to this chapter, and our lives bear witness to how impactful Covid-19 can be. In the developed world we are already set in a deep economic recession, which risks becoming the worst depression of the last 100 years. Everybody knows where this trend is headed: the main outcome is joblessness, meaning more and more people are losing their livelihoods and becoming unable to support their families.
This grim reality has already started to take hold (for instance, by producing 33 million unemployed in the US in a matter of weeks); and that’s the reason why so many people are utterly scared of what SARS-CoV-2 could bring – not death, but a fall into poverty.
In developing countries, corona’s effects could be even more devastating. There, the story might rapidly turn into tragedy. According to the Head of United Nations’ World Food Programme, David Beasley, the world is now at risk of famines “of biblical proportions” caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Within a short few months, the number of people suffering from hunger could go from 135 million to more than 250 million.
Yet, economic depression and famines would not be the only catastrophes. As suggested by Nouriel Roubini, the New York-based economist who famously predicted the 2008 financial crisis, the current pandemic is accelerating trends toward balkanisation and fragmentation that were already underway in many regions of the world. According to him, more protectionist policies are going to prevail, with tighter restrictions on the movement of goods, services, capital, labor, technology, and information. The geostrategic standoff between the US and China will intensify. Populist leaders will benefit from economic weakness, mass unemployment, and rising inequality, leading to a strong impulse to scapegoat foreigners and migrants for the crisis. And there will likely be an upsurge in clandestine cyber warfare, potentially conducive to military clashes.
The peril is certainly there. All these trends could entail the emergence of both new social conflicts inside countries and tensions among them, with heightened risks of isolationism coupled with the internal repression of civil liberties. Some developments may be an anticipation of what is to come. Antonio Guterres, the present UN chief, has recently warned about the dangerous ‘tsunami’ of hate speech that has risen alongside the Covid-19 pandemic. In his view social media companies and civil society must urgently stand up to the many forms of xenophobia, racism and intolerance that have surfaced during the crisis. Absent a concerted effort in this direction, anti-foreigner sentiment, antisemitic conspiracy theories, attacks against Muslims, and the targeting of journalists, health workers, human right activists despised just for doing their job, will only rise further.
Technology: the light at the end of the tunnel
The dark connotations of the previous chapter of the story – providing the emotional climax to it – are fortunately counterbalanced by the promises deriving from the extraordinarily quick scientific progress in dealing with SARS-CoV-2.
Although it’s not certain that a vaccine for this disease may ever be found (as it was never found for HIV, the virus causing AIDS), many research teams around the world are competing in the quest for it. Huge sums and energies are being invested. And the general expectation is that, in this case, the time needed to find and bring a vaccine to market will be just a fraction of the many years of research and trial that have always been necessary in previous pandemics.
Also, technology is already providing precious help in other ways. The novel coronavirus genome was sequenced in record time and shared by Chinese medical authorities on January 11, only a couple of weeks after they had alerted the WHO of the new pathogen. Today the advanced apps that ensure the precise tracking of infected people – though not liked by all – allow those who have not got the virus to keep distant and protected. Besides, a number of treatments have been very fast devised and approved for use on patients, with life-saving results. New drugs are expected to be available soon.
Sure, the limits to our ability to cure and treat people affected by SARS-CoV-2 remain important. The death toll attests to this situation. However, the level of scientific awareness reached by mankind has created a totally new situation. As Homo Sapiens author Yuval Harari recently wrote, when in the 14th century the Black Death killed more than a quarter of all humans in Asia and Europe, people had no idea of what caused it: “They usually blamed the plague on angry gods or black magic, and the best thing they could think of doing was hold mass prayers to the gods – which often led to mass infections.” (Viruses were only discovered in the last decade of the 19th century). And when in 1918 the Spanish flu killed far more people than World War I, no one had an inkling of what a genome is – not to say how to sequence one. The much more favorable way a pandemic can be faced in our time is entirely due to the advancements of science. And technology is the light sword that will guide us through the darkness – and possibly save us.
The future of the human-virus relationship
Yet, scientific awareness doesn’t necessarily mean wisdom. Thus, at this stage, how this captivating story will end is uncertain. As I have remarked in a previous post, SARS-CoV-2 has all the traits of the perfect villain. Not by chance, this has led many people to state that ‘we are at war’ with an invisible, deadly enemy. The media are fond of this scenario and have made it their own. Indeed, there are many reasons to set the corona narrative as a fight between the human species and a sinister evil force. The virus is undoubtedly a merciless killer. And health workers are waging a terrible battle with great courage and dignity. But, if pushed too far, this representation may not be the wisest, and risks being misleading.
In fact, other perspectives are possible. What if, just for an instant, we adopted the viewpoint of the virus? That’s exactly what the beautiful video titled #what future do you choose does. Instead of depicting SARS-CoV-2 as a faceless, unforgiving enemy, it gives it a voice. What does corona say? It says that most viruses are usually kept in check by healthy environment and only get to know their original host animal (without jumping species); that the blame for what is happening now should be placed on humans, who rip forests apart thus bringing viruses like itself out of their natural quarantine; and that humankind should finally understand how its behavior is affecting the planet.
What this video actually does is making us realize that the novel coronavirus story should mainly be framed as a narrative of environmental imbalance. Its conclusion about who bears responsibility for a better future is very clear: only humans – not viruses – can choose to make wiser choices in what they consume and how they live.
Can this be the real happy ending of this story? Is there a way for us to grasp that our lifestyles and consumption habits are leading the Earth to disastrous consequences? As bad as the pandemic is to many people, it has also brought us less air pollution – and jellyfish once again swimming in Venice’s crystal-clean waters. Evidently something has to be corrected in the manner we interact with our world. Will the environmental implications of the Covid-19 outbreak become a relevant and lasting part of the ‘new normal’? It’s hard to say. What is certain is that the way the great coronavirus narrative develops in the future will depend very much on all of us.
The dynamics of the coronavirus crisis is proving that Bill Gates had it right. In a now-famous TED talk video dated April 3, 2015, he predicted that “if anything kills over 10 million people in the next few decades it’s most likely to be a highly infectious virus rather than a war”. And he was right on another crucial point – when he argued that “we’re not ready” to face such a catastrophe.
Our unpreparedness, which has become evident in the questionable way the crisis is being handled in many countries, has led to social distancing and personal isolation. This, in turn, has brought about an unprecedented reliance on digital tools that are helping us communicate and support the feeling of togetherness.
The push to digitalize is indeed one of the few benefits of this crisis, but it should not be overemphasized. It may be true that even grandma is learning to use Zoom, and that you can definitely hold that meeting online instead of going to the office. Surely, thanks to COVID-19 many are discovering how digital can be useful to their lives and work. The proof of this is the feeling of deprivation among the families and individuals who do not have computers at home (yes, there are more of them than you may think).
However, we should not celebrate this development as an all-encompassing solution for several reasons.
The first one is that, as humans, we are not made to live physically isolated for long. As Angela Dewan wrote on CNN, Humans Are Terrible at Social Distancing. Probably because touch is the first sense that a baby develops in the womb, we really like to be with other people and exchange handshakes, hugs and kisses. Touching each other releases the same chemicals in the brain and body (endorphins, etc.) that make us happy. This experience is what we miss in teleconferencing, and we’ll do whatever it takes to get it back.
In addition to that, the war against coronavirus must clearly be won in the physical world. When indicating viruses as the biggest threat to mankind, Bill Gates also suggested that the answer to this challenge has to be based on better international coordination among health systems, with the deployment of a rapid healthcare force, and possibly with some support from the military and its logistics capabilities – something that requires a lot of very concrete efforts and investments.
Another reason relates to the fact that the digital world is not exempt from limits and risks. Clearly the advancements of AI, machine learning, and robotics are improving our lives in countless ways and, hopefully, they may soon provide the way to beat this damned virus and other diseases. However, the notion of digitalizing all work doesn’t make sense.
Why? Because we’ll still need the hairdresser. Because being compelled to work digitally for 8 hours a day is alienating. And because technology is progressing so quickly that there’s a huge risk of losing control.
In fact, just as we have been hit by a virus in the real world, we could well be devastated by a very smart malevolent virus or unforeseen lethal algorithm in the digital one. Elon Musk has been warning us of this danger for years (and Bill Gates too). Computers are now writing their own algorithms, and they are so complex that the human mind cannot comprehend them. In the long term Artificial Intelligence will become smarter than us, therefore relinquishing our grip on the physical world to transfer most of our activities online doesn’t seem a promising idea.
In brief, this is another area where people, organizations, and governments “are not ready”. Finding the right balance between physical and digital will simply become vital, and we should make our preparations to get there as fast as we can.
La presentazione dei Neon a CES 2020, il grande evento sulla tecnologia tenutosi a inizio Gennaio a Las Vegas, ha fatto sensazione. Creati da Star Labs, il dipartimento di ricerca tecnologica avanzata di Samsung, i Neon sono stati descritti come “esseri virtuali creati con tecnica computazionale che appaiono e si comportano come umani reali, con la capacità di mostrare emozioni e intelligenza”.
Cosa sono esattamente i Neon e in cosa si differenziano dagli assistenti digitali che ci siamo abituati a conoscere (come Siri o Alexa, oppure Bixby, il digital assistant di Samsung)? I Neon, dice l’azienda, “sono più come noi, esseri viventi virtuali ma indipendenti, che possono mostrare emozioni e imparare dall’esperienza”.
Progettati per avere conversazioni in tempo reale e comportarsi come umani, i Neon non hanno (per ora) un corpo ma su uno schermo appaiono davvero quasi indistinguibili da come possono apparire degli esseri umani reali. Non la sanno lunga un po’ su tutto come i migliori assistenti digitali, tuttavia sono in grado di acquisire competenze specializzate, sviluppare memorie e interagire in un’ampia serie di compiti che richiedono un tocco umano.
Per quanto ancora in fase sperimentale, i Neon sembrano rappresentare un notevole passo avanti nella direzione dei chatbot conversazionali con caratteristiche umanoidi sempre più sofisticate. Cosa possono fare, e in che ruoli potrebbero essere impiegati? Secondo Pranav Mistry, il CEO di Neon e direttore di Star Labs, essi possono anzitutto essere “dei nostri amici, collaboratori o compagni”. Poi possono agire come umani artificiali in una quantità di ruoli in cui la componente emozionale è importante, quali insegnanti, operatori sanitari, receptionist, maestri di yoga, consulenti finanziari, portavoce, ma anche cronisti televisivi, pop star o attori cinematografici.
Per le aziende, naturalmente, i Neon potranno assumere una serie di ruoli, tutti da disegnare, anche nel customer care o come brand ambassador. Tale prospettiva si inserisce perfettamente nella traiettoria di sviluppo delle intelligenze conversazionali accennata sia nel mio ultimo libro Storytelling e Intelligenza Artificiale (FrancoAngeli 2019) sia nel testo del mio amico e collega Alberto Maestri Platform Brand (FrancoAngeli 2019).
Dalle supermodel virtuali di Balmain (che hanno lavorato per il lancio della stagione autunnale 2018 conquistando la copertina di Vogue) ai Neon il passo è breve, ma c’è di mezzo un grande salto sul terreno della tecnologia. Come avevamo notato nei nostri libri, le macchine stanno rapidamente evolvendo nel dare luogo a creature artificiali con un’eccezionale human-like appearance e in grado di interagire con noi in modi sempre più profondi e complessi.
Nel caso dei Neon, tale interazione è grandemente facilitata dal fatto che il loro tempo di risposta nella conversazione con gli interlocutori è di pochi millisecondi – ovvero, è in real time. E la loro capacità di esprimere emozioni, ad esempio, di sorriderci quando opportuno, non potrà che accrescerne l’interesse e l’attrattiva.
I Neon sono stati al centro del buzz a CES 2020, malgrado la tecnologia non sia ancora disponibile (andrà in beta test nei prossimi mesi) e nonostante alcune perplessità riguardanti il piano della privacy. In un comunicato stampa, Mistry ha cercato di rassicurare che i Neon sono stati progettati avendo i temi della privacy e della fiducia al primo posto. E ha osservato che “abbiamo sempre sognato questi esseri virtuali nella fantascienza e nel cinema. I Neon si integreranno col nostro mondo e serviranno come nuovi link a un futuro migliore”. Non tutti sono rimasti convinti, ma il progetto di Star Labs non si fermerà per questo. Pertanto, stay tuned.
Alcune settimane fa DeepVogue, un software di intelligenza artificiale di Shenlan (‘Deep Blue’) Technology ha vinto il secondo premio all’International Competition of Innovative Fashion Design di Shanghai. Un concorso internazionale importante, al quale hanno partecipato 15 scuole di fashion design altamente qualificate come ESMOD, Istituto Europeo di Design, Tsinghua University Academy of Arts & Design e la China Academy of Art.
La vittoria è significativa perché è la prima volta che accade; e perché è un’altra prova del fatto che l’AI sta guadagnando capacità crescenti di operare nel campo della creatività. Certo la tecnologia di DeepVogue, come hanno riconosciuto i rappresentanti di Shenlan Technology, richiede notevoli input da parte di stilisti umani; ma poi il sistema utilizza il ‘deep learning’ (una tecnologia avanzata basata su reti neurali) per studiare ampi database di informazioni e quindi produrre modelli originali. Modelli a quanto pare di tale eleganza da conquistare il panel di 50 giudici della manifestazione, inducendoli a conferire a DeepVogue anche il “People’s Choice Award”.
Come ha notato un articolo di Enterprise Innovation, DeepVogue è stato costruito per verificare se l’AI possiede oggi quelle capacità di pensiero non lineare e ‘talento creativo’ necessari per dare vita a modelli in grado di figurare bene nelle più grandi sfilate di moda al mondo. Il risultato è decisamente positivo e sembra inaugurare un’epoca in cui la fashion industry sarà sempre più guidata dai driver paralleli dell’innovazione tecnologica e della creatività culturale.
Che l’AI riesca in questo campo, così sottratto alla logica, indubbiamente colpisce. La moda, nelle sue infinite variazioni di lunghezze, fogge, tagli, colori, ha sempre avuto qualcosa di ineffabile, ciò che è all’origine dei costi a volte assurdi delle creazioni ritenute migliori. Ma se alcuni stilisti di gran successo possono vantare il tratto del genio, le macchine hanno dalla loro quello della potenza di elaborazione. DeepVogue ad esempio distingue 16 milioni di colori, e questo probabilmente può avvantaggiarlo nella scelta della tonalità vincente nella prossima stagione.
Questa incursione dell’intelligenza artificiale sul terreno del fashion design avviene nello stesso momento in cui la tecnologia fa passi straordinari sul terreno dello storytelling (come ho raccontato nel mio ultimo libro). Dimostrando in modo sempre più convincente, se ce ne fosse ancora bisogno, che gli algoritmi, pur basati su codici e principi matematici, hanno ottime carte da giocare anche quando si tratta di colpire la fantasia e l’immaginazione umana.
Da oggi il mio ultimo libro è in libreria e può essere acquistato su Amazon. Di cosa parla? Le prime righe della quarta di copertina ne danno un’idea:
“Da tempi immemorabili, il racconto di storie è stato dominio esclusivo dell’uomo. Nessun’altra creatura vivente ha mai dato prova di questa particolare inclinazione, legata a prerogative tipicamente umane, come le capacità di elaborazione simbolica e di linguaggio. Da adesso in poi, però, con una cesura di rilievo storico ancora difficile da comprendere, raccontare storie potrebbe non essere più un’impresa soltanto umana. Sebbene nella fase attuale algoritmi e intelligenza artificiale tendano a intervenire principalmente con funzioni di aiuto, anch’essi possono essere considerati – sempre più – non solo meccanismi di riproduzione, ma veri e propri artefici di nuove storie e racconti. Questo passaggio è sbalorditivo ed emozionante”.
copertina 
Il libro inquadra la transizione in cui ci troviamo, che sta portando i software, i sistemi artificiali, i robot a impadronirsi dei segreti dello storytelling. Quali ambiti sono toccati? Fra gli altri, il cinema, il giornalismo, il marketing, la pubblicità, i social media, la politica. Questo testo è una delle prime analisi compiute in argomento. Per saperne di più e capire cosa ci riserva il futuro su questo piano, non vi resta che leggerlo.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming ubiquitous. We learn of stunning innovations due to AI, machine learning, augmented reality every day. Thus, it is only a matter of time before these extraordinary developments affect the world of storytelling too. In fact, the process has already started.
Are you ready to be told new stories by robots? When do you think that could happen? For many, this idea is at the same time fascinating and troubling. When debating this issue at a recent Milan Digital Week conference, some issues kept popping up: How can machines create a meaningful story? Can they really involve us emotionally? Can stories based on algorithms be original? In general, there were more sceptics than believers. But in this area, like in many others, things are changing fast.