In their co-authored book, ‘Human, little human’, Mauro Crippa and Giuseppe Girgenti express their concerns about the potential risks of artificial intelligence. They argue that the primary threat is not that AI will become too human-like, but rather that human intelligence will lose its unique characteristics and be overwhelmed by AI. The book’s title is a paraphrase of a famous work by Friedrich Nietzsche and will be released tomorrow by Piemme.
Crippa is known for his role as the director of Mediaset’s information and communication programs, while Girgenti is a respected professor of History of Ancient Philosophy at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University of Milan. Together, they present a volume that serves as a survival manual for human intelligence in the face of the rise of AI.
The authors emphasize the unique and irreducible qualities of human intelligence compared to technological intelligence. They warn that the damage to our cognitive connections and our understanding of reality is already happening and is profound. They use the example of the Bending Spoons group’s App, Remini, which has been downloaded by hundreds of millions of users globally. The App allows users to upload photos of a person and create synthetic images of that person doing anything – a potential threat to our identity.
The book argues that humans are already digitally modified organisms operating under an algorithmic code. Crippa and Girgenti suggest that the real issue is not a competition of intelligence between humans and machines, but the transformation of human intelligence when it is both enhanced and weakened by machines. The book explores this complex relationship through ten chapters, each corresponding to a spiritual exercise drawn from classic thinkers ranging from Plato to Saint Augustine. The ultimate goal is to utilize AI technology while making necessary human corrections.
