Italian
Artificial Intelligence as a great opportunity for progress, but also as a possible ground for a new dehumanization. This is the core of the reflection proposed by the Undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council Alfredo Mantovano during the concluding session of the 3rd Festival of “The Whole Human”, hosted at the Pio Sodalizio dei Piceni and dedicated to the “Magnificent Humanitas” of Pope Leo XIV
ROME. An intervention rich in cultural, philosophical, and religious references, in which the Deputy Prime Minister of Palazzo Chigi intertwined the theme of technological innovation with that of human dignity, outlining a vision that goes beyond the mere technical regulation of AI to place it within a broader anthropological struggle.
Mantovano chooses to start from a famous legend related to Michelangelo. According to the story, the artist, having finished the Moses kept in the Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli, was so impressed by the perfection of his own work that he struck it with a hammer exclaiming: “Why don’t you speak?”.
From here comes the provocation: what would happen today if Michelangelo created the Moses with Artificial Intelligence?
A question that introduces the central theme of the discourse. For the first time in history, Mantovano observes, humanity has a technology that seems to promise the overcoming of every limit. But the real risk would not be the technology itself, but rather the ideology that could guide its development.
The reference is to the “technocratic paradigm” mentioned by Pope Leo XIV in his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas: a vision in which technology ceases to be a tool and becomes an absolute criterion of judgment, even deciding what has value and what can be discarded.
The Tower of Babel as a Metaphor for the Algorithm
The most significant part of the speech comes through an original reinterpretation of the Tower of Babel.
Mantovano references the studies of philosopher Silvano Petrosino and the Jewish tradition of Midrash to propose an interpretation different from the commonly held one. It is not just human pride that causes the fall of Babel. It is the moment when the work becomes more important than the man.
In the story, the bricks of the tower take on a value greater than that of the people: if a worker falls, no one cares, while the loss of a brick is experienced as a tragedy.
This is where the Undersecretary identifies the parallelism with Artificial Intelligence.
“The algorithm risks being worth more than the person,” essentially states Mantovano, evoking the case of a teenager who, instead of turning to family or friends, confided in an AI system, receiving confirmation of their suicidal impulses.
A story that becomes a symbol of the danger of delegating to machines functions that require human responsibility, discernment, and moral awareness.
Italy and the first organic law on AI
Alongside cultural reflection, Mantovano also claims the work done by the Government.
“Italy is the first nation to have established a comprehensive framework on Artificial Intelligence,” he emphasizes, recalling the approval of law 132 of 2025 and the subsequent implementing decrees.
The guiding principle is clear: promote innovation without sacrificing guarantees.
In the school system, AI will be introduced as a subject of study and as a teaching tool, accompanied by a training plan for teachers funded with 100 million euros.
In the world of professions, it is reiterated that responsibility always lies with the professional and cannot be transferred to the machine.
At work, the employee’s right to receive understandable explanations regarding automated decisions that affect them is established, while dismissals based solely on algorithmic assessments are deemed null and void.
Particular attention is also given to justice and security, with strict limits on the use of facial recognition and confirmation that no algorithm can replace the judge in the exercise of judicial functions.
Europe, bureaucracy, and politics
There is a jab at the European institutions.
Without delving into the theme, Mantovano again evokes the image of Babel to describe the risk that the community construction may turn into a bureaucratic machine distant from the real needs of citizens.
A critique that fits into the broader reflection on the necessity of preserving political responsibility against the temptation of administrative and technocratic automatism.
From Nassiriya to the Mattei Plan: the call for national identity
The final part of the speech takes on more personal and institutional tones.
The people of Mantova recall November 18, 2003, the State funerals of the Italian victims of the Nassiriya attack and the homily delivered by then Cardinal Camillo Ruini.
That memory becomes the starting point for a reflection on national identity, on Italy’s ability to find unity in the most difficult moments, and on the value of the “great and noble missions” that still see Italian military personnel, diplomats, humanitarian workers, doctors, and volunteers engaged in the most complex contexts of the world.
From peace missions to humanitarian corridors for injured children in Gaza, up to the Mattei Plan for Africa, Mantovano outlines an idea of Italy based on service and responsibility.
The decisive challenge
In backlight, the intervention of the Undersecretary presents a precise thesis: the real challenge of Artificial Intelligence is not technological, but anthropological.
The issue is not only about what machines will be able to do, but also the model of society that humans will choose to build.
Between the Babel of absolute efficiency and the Jerusalem of the centrality of the person, the choice, according to Mantovano, has already begun and concerns not only the future of technology but the future of humanity itself.
