Digital, environment, economy, society: elements linked together in a large jigsaw puzzle that must be handled with care. And to do so requires awareness and skills, but above all a solid common cultural base. Particularly at a time when disruptive tools, such as artificial intelligence, increase the complexity of the challenge. We discussed these issues with Silvia Calandrelli, Director of Rai’s Sustainability Department – ESG and Coordinator of the Corporate Table on Artificial Intelligence, and – as part of the partnership between Rai and the Foundation for Digital Sustainability – new member of the Foundation’s steering committee. Hers is a long career in Rai which, after graduating in philosophy, began in 1989, with collaborations first for radio and then for television; in 2000 she was called to direct the Contents Entertainment area of Rai Net and in June 2007 she was appointed Deputy Director of New Media and Board Member of Rai Net of which, a year later, she became Head of the Offer Development area. In the first four months of 2020 she was then given interim responsibility for Rai 3 and, in December 2021, she was appointed Director of the Culture and Educational Department. She has held her current role in the company since May last year.
Sustainability as responsibility
As a public broadcasting service, for Rai sustainability can be encapsulated in just one word: responsibility.“It is the heart of our renewed mission,” stressed Silvia Calandrelli, “in fact, by institutional mandate, Rai’s position with respect to sustainability issues is central and well defined within the 2023-2028 Service Contract. It is not a simple fulfilment, but a responsibility that requires us to act as a guide for cultural change, in line with the major objectives of the country’s digital and environmental transition‘.
This means, in a nutshell, looking at the issue in all its complexity, and addressing it in all its facets. “On the environmental side, we have an explicit duty to increase the skills of the public in relation to the new challenges of the ecological transition, and then we cannot fail to take into account that sustainability also includes the social dimension, which translates into work to promote inclusion, gender equality, valuing diversity and combating all forms of discrimination. We must necessarily work to guarantee accessibility to content, to represent all the voices of society, and to contribute to social cohesion by strengthening RAI’s role as a democratic and shared space. Finally, economic sustainability, which implies responsible management of resources,operational efficiency and the ability to generate value along the entire chain. This is a complex and articulated task, which requires systematic reflection at several levels‘.
Governing digital sustainability
This systemic vision includes the concept of digital sustainability, ‘an epoch-making turning point‘, as defined by Silvia Calandrelli: ‘for Rai it is not a merely technical matter, or a luxury or an optional extra to be ridden with blind enthusiasm .As I often say, it is a real evolutionary process. Those who have worked on these issues for a long time remember that digital technology has two complementary faces: it is a powerful tool for orienting the environment, economy and society towards fairer and more efficient outcomes, but at the same time it is a risk to be handled with care, i.e. by applying criteria of responsibility and accountability. In order to face reality in all its complexity, a conscious balance between benefits and impacts is therefore needed, especially for a company like RAI, where every technological choice is reflected on the service to the public‘.
To do this, both in technological development and in its direction, the person must always be at the centre. ‘Human control over decisions becomes an indispensable factor,’ explained the company’s sustainability director: ‘look for example at generative AI systems: although they produce texts and content that are indistinguishable from reality, they are not guided by ethical reference systems, nor by intentionality or conscience. Our task, therefore, is not so much to ask ourselves whether technology does ‘good’ or ‘bad’ but to understand how it can be functional to the individual, and not the other way around, responsibly producing positive impacts on society‘.
A steering committee for artificial intelligence
These kinds of reflections become more important than ever in the age of AI: a disruptive technology, but one that also poses considerable challenges if we want to frame it in a sustainable perspective. “We are accelerating the transformation into a digital media company, but we are deeply aware that AI has legal, environmental, political, social, and for us also editorial implications, so much so that every technical choice we make translates into a cultural choice. Sustainability, in this context, means ensuring that innovation is not only efficient, but also just, that it does not compromise the material and value conditions that make democratic coexistence possible. We must orient our work towards an ethical use of these systems. With this in mind, Rai has chosen to design a proactive and responsible governance, setting up a steering cabin, the Steering Committee for AI, which constitutes a permanent garrison to provide strategic, participatory and multidisciplinary support to top management, ensuring that the adoption of AI is mature and consistent with our values.
The cardinal principle guiding all our decisions is the ‘human in the loop‘,’ continued Silvia Calandrelli: ‘this is because however advanced generative AI is, and we must not forget this, it is a cognitive enhancement tool capable of correlating and processing vast amounts of data. It therefore does not possess intentionality, consciousness, and therefore not even responsibility. The final responsible act is always the human choice to adopt or discard each outcome, grafting it, in our case, into a controlled editorial context‘.
Towards a shared culture
Navigating this great digital transformation, keeping the values of sustainability firmly within it, requires a strong cultural operation. And it is in the construction of this shared culture on digital sustainability that Rai can play an important role. “It is a commitment that is rooted in Rai’s mission of guiding and directing the country’s culture. This role is outlined in the commitment to bridging disparities, guaranteeing ethical content, respecting algorithmic transparency and coordinating initiatives at an institutional level. First and foremost, our contribution is oriented towards combating inequalities, a duty that is historically articulated in the area ofliteracy and that takes concrete form in the gradual reduction of the digital divide, increasing the public’s skills, developing a critical approach to news, and promoting cultural models that are more attentive to the collective well-being.
From the point of view of internal governance, we are working on transparency towards the user, making the intervention of the IA recognisable with clear formulas; on traceability, associating reliable metadata on the provenance of sources; on the protection of rights, preventing the misuse of protected works and copyright conflicts; on the control of ex ante and ex post effects on bias and accuracy, with the possibility of rapid rectification. Last but not least, on an institutional level, Rai has the responsibility to effectively coordinate with the country’s political and cultural interlocutors in order to contribute to the construction of national and European policy in the field of digital sustainability‘.
The value of partnership
The company’s commitment in this field, as told by Silvia Calandrelli, then had to be made measurable: in other words, something was needed to make it tangible and evident. And this is one of the main reasons that led to the partnership with the Foundation for Digital Sustainability. “The decision touched on a crucial aspect of our strategy, because this is not just an endorsement but a partnership driven by the goal of being part of a qualified and authoritative think tank and equipping ourselves with concrete tools and methodologies to measure and standardise our commitment, so that we can convert innovation into a responsible lever. We are required to develop a Sustainability Plan in line with the UN 2030 Agenda and we need objective criteria, i.e. metrics and standards, to demonstrate the effectiveness of our transformation. This is a field in which the Foundation is a leader in Italy.Added to this is support in the cultural and educational mission, particularly on AI. With its network of companies, experts and universities, the Foundation offers a multidisciplinary framework for developing awareness, skills and culture on digital sustainability among citizens, institutions and companies. And so we come to the topic ofAI Literacy, a crucial literacy task that RAI, as the country’s leading cultural company, has always performed. It has already done so effectively in the past with primary literacy, then with support for the dissemination and use of the World Wide Web, and today with the enabling of new citizenship skills for the conscious use of these systems, so as to prevent innovation from amplifying inequalities. Our participation in these networks and the definition of internal policies are essential to ensure that the public service, through its processes and its externally directed content, maintains the principles of quality, ethics and inclusiveness, contributing to a systematic work of reflection, the basis of all liberal democracies‘.