It’s not enough just to use AI: we need to understand it

“We must not just learn to use AI, but to understand it.” This is the message conveyed by Alfio Ferrara, full professor of Computer Science at the University of Milan and delegate for AI Literacy, speaking to RaiNews during RomeCup 2026.

The interview, conducted by Carlotta Urbani, draws a crucial distinction. Knowing how to use a tool does not mean understanding it. Faced with the rapid spread of generative artificial intelligence systems, the real challenge is not merely to acquire new practical skills, but to understand how these technologies work, what data they use, what limitations they have and what consequences they have on knowledge, work and social relationships.

For Ferrara, this shift concerns young people, but not only them. AI literacy is now a fundamental civic skill: it is needed by students, teachers, professionals and citizens alike to navigate the ongoing transformation without simply being subjected to it and without relying on simplified, overly enthusiastic or alarmist portrayals.

At the RomeCup, Ferrara also emphasised the value of experiences that allow young people to step outside the usual confines of their school curriculum. “Experiences like these are the way to engage with a different world and see new things,” he explains. “The real added value is that they foster curiosity, and curiosity is the great driving force behind knowledge”.

Curiosity thus becomes the starting point for a more informed relationship with technology. It encourages us to ask questions, not to settle for the first answer, to verify, and to compare sources and perspectives. This is what transforms the passive use of a platform into a journey of understanding.

Ferrara’s academic work centres precisely on the dialogue between different fields. He teaches Natural Language Processing, Reinforcement Learning and computational methodologies in the humanities, and is one of the founders of the University of Milan’s research centre on Digital Humanities and Applied AI, established to bridge the gap between the humanities and information technology.

In his book The Machines of Language: Man in the Mirror of Artificial Intelligence, published by Einaudi in 2025, he explores the relationship between human language and artificial systems. Machines can generate increasingly fluent and convincing texts, but the quality of the form does not automatically equate to understanding, truth or reliability.

For this reason, understanding artificial intelligence means learning to distinguish between a plausible response and a well-founded one, between automation and judgement, between delegation and responsibility. It also means understanding that every technology incorporates choices, data, models and objectives.

RomeCup fosters this awareness through hands-on experiences: workshops, demonstrations, competitions, meetings with researchers and interdisciplinary dialogue. Robotics and artificial intelligence thus become opportunities to observe, experiment and question, not merely tools to be learnt how to use.

Alfio Ferrara’s message is simple, yet it addresses one of the most pressing challenges of our time: to truly embrace the digital transformation, it is not enough simply to become faster users. We must become more aware citizens.