When Artificial Intelligence enters the company

How should it be approached? How should one relate to it? What are its potentialities and the aspects to pay attention to? These and many other questions are answered in the recent book written by Massimiliano Turazzini and published by Tecniche Nuove

Article by Simonetta Stella

He is a multifaceted entrepreneur, active in the field of innovation and artificial intelligence and promoter of initiatives that, by exploiting the potential offered by digital technologies, can concretely improve everyone’s everyday professional activities. In his 30 years of activity, Massimiliano Turazzini has founded and invested in several start-ups, worked for leading names on the IT scene and is now engaged on several fronts: in addition to promoting and supporting the creation of innovative start-ups, especially those using AI, he offers strategic consulting services for the adoption of advanced technologies that help companies in their innovation projects and is active in training through conferences, workshops, blogs and books. He has just recently published a book, entitled “Assumere un’Intelligenza Artificiale in azienda”, published by Tecniche Nuove: we met him and interviewed him to let him tell us about the path that led him to write this interesting publication. It is a manual that, through accessible language devoid of technicalities, explains even to non-experts what artificial intelligence is and what its concrete applications can be.

«I started working in the IT world in the 1990s as a programmer and at the same time collaborated with some technical magazines», began the author. «Later on, I founded a software house that dealt with developing tools and services for utilities. In 2016, we sold the company, and I returned to start-ups focused on artificial intelligence. In the meantime, I resumed my studies and in 2020 I published a novel about what would happen with the introduction of AI, a topic that was then little paid attention to by most people. Two years later, I started a blog and with some entrepreneurs from YPO (Young President’s Organisation), of which I am a member, I participated in the birth of the VJAL Institute, which organises thematic workshops on AI for companies all over the world with a very concrete approach: before making plans, you have to understand the potential of AI through practice. And with trainers who are all CEOs or entrepreneurs, so that the change taking place is communicated as an equal by those who are experiencing it in their organisations».

The experience gained in the course just described has contributed to a solid know-how that has been gathered in the recently published book. How is the book structured?

The book, starting from the market scenario of the last few years, takes the reader by the hand and explains what generative artificial intelligence is and how it works, what the basic concepts of this new resource are, what could happen in the next few years and what to look out for. In the second part of the book, on the other hand, I tell how companies can ‘take on Artificial Intelligence in the company’, i.e. integrate it effectively into their operational processes to make them realise that it is not just software, so they need to understand how to relate to this new resource. The last part of the book, which is more technical, is dedicated to how to create one’s own assistant based on artificial intelligence: it is important to select the most suitable AI model, assessing its costs and benefits in detail and taking into account the different aspects in terms of privacy, security and ethics. The book ends with some case histories, projects in which I have participated by supporting companies that have embarked on this type of path.

What type of reader is the book designed for?

It is aimed at entrepreneurs, managers and team leaders who want to understand how to integrate AI into their organisations, and at all people who, although they do not have a technical background, want to learn about and explore the complex universe of artificial intelligence.

In the book, AI is compared to an intern, what do you mean?

New hires often go through an internship period. Contrary to what you might imagine, artificial intelligence is not a ‘super-brain’ that can do everything, but like a person who has a lot of good will, skills, but has no responsibility for what he does and cannot make decisions independently. 

One of the strengths of the book is the AI-Plug framework. What is it about?

I designed this path, a structured approach that guides companies through the stages of awareness, ignition, practice, learning, understanding and value generation. This framework is enriched with practical tips and strategies to be developed over 3-6 months of using AI, offering readers a clear and applicable roadmap to start exploiting its potential. In short, it is a methodology for learning how to use it, understanding how it works and engaging colleagues properly.

Are there sectors that could be a natural outlet for the introduction of AI?

There are companies that are defined as being ‘in the melting pot’, that are experiencing this disruption, and these are, for example, software houses, entertainment businesses, professional services at various levels, such as education. Then there are other sectors that will be impacted and change significantly in the near future, and I am referring to healthcare, utilities, the energy sector, pharmaceuticals, to name a few. And then there will be other realities that will experience this phase of transformation later, such as real estate, personal care, construction, etc. But let us not forget that technology runs very fast. The sectors that have the most time to convert must not waste it.

Will this transformative force have a different impact depending also on the size of the companies? Which ones will be facilitated to approach these new tools?

Large companies are making huge investments, but they are also very complex and resistant to change. From my point of view, the difficulty companies are having in introducing these tools is proportional to their size: if a manager does not have a secure return on a given budget, he may find it difficult to get a project approved. And at this stage, generative AI is a technology trend in the making and there is no certain return on investment, besides the fact that training hundreds of people takes months. Small companies, on the other hand, given the accessibility of this technology at this time, are at an advantage: if they know how to seize this opportunity, they can experiment and train staff more quickly and become more responsive. In the smaller realities I am seeing great ferment on these issues.

Many people fear that artificial intelligence will ‘wipe out’ many jobs. Yet the most automated countries in the world, the United States, Japan and South Korea, have the lowest unemployment rates. What is your point of view?

Generative AI is a new resource that has to be explored step by step, trying to understand how to relate to it: it offers us the possibility of initiating a different kind of interlocution, we can, for example, ask questions and receive answers, it can generate texts, images, videos, reports. This tool won’t replace anyone, but it will increase the capabilities of each of us, eliminating boring tasks with low added value.