As a part of the event ‘Sustainability Unscripted: Real Talks with Industry Game Changers’ offered by the UCL Centre for Sustainable Business, UCL School of Management Professor Paolo Taticchi sat down with Digital Pioneer, Marco Camisani to discuss “Human Values in the Age of AI: A Conversation on Ethics, Sustainability, and Cyberhumanism”. They discussed institutional commitment to ethics and sustainability, the importance of human-centric technological advancement, and the risks of market-driven ethics in AI.
Take a look at their discussion and learn more about Marco and Paolo’s recent work and interests.
Interview Prof.paolo taticchi and Marco Camisani Calzolari
Prof. Paolo Taticchi: Your digital experience is extensive, spanning over 35 years in the field as a scientific communicator, researcher, and holding key roles at the Presidency of the Council in the Department for Digital Transformation and the National Cybersecurity Agency in Italy. From your viewpoint, do institutions currently pay sufficient attention to ethics and sustainability in the digital realm?
Marco Camisani Calzolari: I see a growing commitment among institutions towards ethics and sustainability within the digital space. This commitment is particularly evident within the Italian Department for Digital Transformation, which is actively contributing to Italy’s advancement by integrating ethical and sustainability principles into projects aimed at innovating and digitising public administration and society at large. For example, significant focus is being placed on addressing sustainability concerns linked to artificial intelligence, particularly regarding the substantial increase in energy requirements of AI technologies, actively seeking sustainable solutions at a national level. Similarly, the National Cybersecurity Agency demonstrates considerable attention towards these issues, combining technological advancement with strong ethical considerations to responsibly safeguard national security. Furthermore, as a member of the Committee under the Presidency of the Council responsible for defining Italy’s national AI strategy, I have contributed to creating a detailed framework explicitly positioning ethics and sustainability as fundamental pillars, underscoring their critical importance for balanced and responsible technological progress.
Prof. Paolo Taticchi: You frequently highlight the importance of repositioning humans at the core of technological advancement. Is this why you founded the concept of Cyberhumanism?
Marco Camisani Calzolari: Precisely. Cyberhumanism emerged from the realisation that digital technology risks advancing too rapidly, potentially neglecting our fundamental human values and priorities. Therefore, I developed a philosophy to remind us that technology should enhance our lives, not complicate or dehumanise them. In my writing, I emphasise that technologies must be designed with deep respect for our humanity, ensuring digital systems are transparent, ethical, and sustainable. This means safeguarding human dignity and privacy, actively avoiding exacerbating social injustices or inequalities, and integrating human-centric values into all aspects of technological innovation and system design.
Prof. Paolo Taticchi: Currently, it seems that market forces often dominate ethical considerations. What risks do we face if we continue along this path?
Marco Camisani Calzolari: Currently, there is a significant lack of transparency concerning the ethical principles underpinning individual AI platforms, which - as widely documented in scientific literature - leads to notable biases and prejudices. These biases, although widely recognised externally, are typically not declared by the platforms themselves, leaving us without a clear ethical framework to reference. This becomes particularly problematic in critical areas, such as healthcare, where AI decisions can directly influence patient diagnoses, treatments, and ultimately lives. Similarly, in the judicial sphere, automated systems can heavily affect legal decisions and people’s destinies. Moreover, the integration of AI into physical entities like autonomous vehicles poses ethical dilemmas akin to those famously illustrated by MIT’s Moral Machine, where vehicles must make morally challenging decisions, such as prioritising one life over another in unavoidable accident scenarios.
The complexity grows further as we consider general-purpose robots, soon expected to become commonplace in homes and factories. Imagine scenarios in which a domestic robot faces a dilemma: should it prioritise saving a valuable household item from damage or attending to a child who might be at risk of injury? Or in medical contexts, AI-driven robots must make decisions reflecting not just general ethical standards but personalised ethical preferences. The issue is not merely ensuring ethical behaviour but determining whose ethics should guide critical decisions. For example, an AI-driven healthcare robot might need to choose between providing aggressive life-sustaining treatments or prioritising patient comfort and autonomy. Different individuals have varying ethical perspectives on these matters: some may emphasise preserving life at all costs, while others might prioritise dignity and comfort. Thus, users must be able to clearly define and personalise their ethical preferences, ensuring that the AI acts in alignment with their specific values and beliefs rather than relying on a standardised, one-size-fits-all approach. The concrete risk is living in a world governed by algorithms whose ethical standards remain opaque, potentially aligning with commercial interests rather than broader human values. Ethics, therefore, cannot be an afterthought—it must be foundational, with recognition of significant cultural and individual variations in ethical principles.
Prof. Paolo Taticchi: Why create third-party tools instead of integrating ethical guidelines directly into AI providers?
Marco Camisani Calzolari: For several reasons. Primarily, from the user’s perspective, it’s essential to have a centralised place to define, store, and regularly update one’s ethical preferences, as these can evolve over time, influenced by age, experiences, and changing societal standards. Another critical benefit is objectivity and neutrality - third-party ethical intermediaries specifically dedicated to ethics management ensure independence from commercial biases inherent within AI providers. Additionally, clear role separation is essential. Third-party platforms with open APIs, accessible through standard technologies such as JSON, empower users with full and independent control over AI ethics, free from external influences or provider biases. Currently, AI providers show minimal willingness to transparently declare their ethical principles, let alone allow users to customise them. Moreover, sustainability factors, including the energy impact of AI-generated responses, are seldom addressed explicitly. Users might want ethical profiles limiting energy consumption, aligning AI use with their sustainability values. Furthermore, AI agents increasingly automating workflows through structured processes should integrate ethical profiles from external Ethics Providers. This ensures ethical considerations consistently underpin automated activities, safeguarding both human-centric values and environmental sustainability within technological frameworks. Presently, platforms exhibit limited openness towards transparency and customisation, thus underscoring the necessity and urgency of establishing external Ethics Providers to manage and personalise ethical governance effectively.
Prof. Paolo Taticchi: You recently launched an innovative initiative to implement the ideas you just mentioned. Can you tell us more?
Marco Camisani Calzolari: Certainly. I recently launched www.ethicsprofile.ai, a platform designed to bring the vision of Cyberhumanism to life by empowering individuals and organisations to take control of ethical decision-making in their interactions with AI systems.
The core idea is simple but powerful: users create a personal or organisational ethics profile - essentially a structured, machine-readable set of values and preferences that can guide AI behaviours in alignment with their own principles. These profiles can reflect diverse ethical frameworks, cultural values, or specific sustainability goals, and they are portable, customisable, and independent from any AI provider.
The platform acts as a third-party Ethics Provider, offering an open API (in JSON format) that can be integrated into AI systems and agents. This separation ensures neutrality and prevents commercial biases from shaping ethical decisions invisibly. Moreover, it acknowledges that ethics are not static - users can regularly review and update their profiles as their beliefs evolve or in response to new societal challenges.
EthicsProfile.ai also introduces the possibility to link ethics with sustainability: for instance, users may choose to limit the energy consumption of AI processes as part of their ethical stance. Ultimately, the goal is to shift from opaque, one-size-fits-all ethics dictated by technology providers to a transparent, user-defined, and evolving framework that places humans - and their values - at the centre of AI.
I’m honoured to have you, Professor Paolo Taticchi, on the Advisory Board of this initiative, together with Professor Lorenzo Cavallaro from UCL Computer Science as Co-Founder. We’re also actively looking for other experts and visionary investors to join us in shaping a better, more ethical AI for the future.
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About Marco Camisani Calzolari
Marco has been involved in the digital world for 35 years. He is a University Adjunct Professor, Consultant, Author, Scientific Communicator, Public Figure and a Cyberhumanist. He is a Knight of the Italian Republic (Order of the Star of Italy), an Honorary Police Officer and a Freeman of the City of London.
He is a digital pioneer, with deep expertise in the tech sector and a clear mission: to make technology understandable and accessible to everyone. His work has always focused on turning the complexity of the digital world into practical tools that people and organisations can use safely and effectively.
He chose an independent professional path that allowed him to work directly with many CEOs and executives, providing strategic and agile consulting, shaping tailored digital transformation strategies for business needs.
He has solid entrepreneurial experience and has led large-scale projects, overseeing editorial content and complex productions with a constant focus on quality and audience engagement.
His passion for communication is reflected in his long-standing commitment to science outreach and education. He is a familiar face on the Italian TV show Striscia la Notizia, where he explains digital topics to millions of viewers. He also serves as a spokesperson for the Italian Postal Police in national online safety campaigns.
At the institutional level, he holds several key positions: he is appointed by the National Cybersecurity Agency, serves on the Prime Minister’s Committee for Italy’s Artificial Intelligence strategies, and acts as an expert advisor to the Department for Digital Transformation.
His contribution is also widely recognised in academia, where he has developed innovative university courses, reinforcing his role as a leading figure in Italy’s digital transformation.
About Professor Paolo Taticchi
Paolo Taticchi is Professor in Strategy and Sustainability & School Deputy Director (MBA, Global Engagement, Executive Education) at UCL School of Management.
Highly active in executive education, Paolo has trained thousands of managers and executives of Fortune Global 500 companies, and is a sought-after speaker regularly invited to give keynote talks at world-class academic, governmental and industry events.
Paolo’s research on corporate sustainability and performance measurement is internationally recognised. Paolo’s last book is titled “Corporate Sustainability in Practice” and was published in January 2021.
Outside of the academy, Paolo has significant consultancy experience in the fields of strategy, education, and sustainability. He has worked in this capacity for firms of various sizes, and in a range of different industries. Today, he advises (or serves in the advisory board) influential organisations and is one of the scientific advisors of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition in Italy.
He has received numerous awards for the impact of his work. His projects, quotes and opinions have been featured over 350 times in international media outlets. In 2021, Paolo was indicated by Italy’s leading business daily Sole 24 Ore as the most influential Italian under the age of 40.
About the UCL Centre for Sustainable Business
The UCL Centre for Sustainable Business, led by Professors Onesun Steve You and Paolo Taticchi, is UCL’s centre dedicated to shaping a sustainable future by empowering businesses and leaders with cutting-edge knowledge and tools for sustainable business transformation. Read more on www.uclcsb.org.