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Conference Program

Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).

Daily Overview

Session

M.16. Digital Transformation and Democratic Regeneration: The Essential Role of Critical Education in the Age of Algorithmic Capitalism
Location: Edificio ex Tumminelli (C007): Sala Sociologia

Convenor(s): Gilda Morelli (Aurea Studium, Italy); Giacinto Matarazzo (Aurea Studium, Italy); Roberta Nicchiarelli (Aurea Studium, Italy)

Presentation 2

AI Literacy as Democratic Education: Evidence from an INAIL pilot study

Pierpaolo Ferrante

INAIL, Italy

While Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping professional practices and democratic life, meaningful participation in algorithmically mediated societies requires that AI knowledge be accessible also to non-specialists. Beyond technical competence, overcoming the cultural and emotional barriers associated with transformative technologies represents a crucial educational and civic challenge.

This contribution presents a pilot experimental methodological approach, developed within an INAIL research workshop, aimed at fostering critical and operational AI literacy through everyday analogies, micro-narratives, and guided interactions with AI tools. All professionals of the Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Epidemiology and Hygiene were invited; 26 expressed interest and 19 participated (94% female; mean age 53; 50% in research or administrative roles).

The training module includes:

Analogical teaching: artificial neurons, neural networks, weights, and training are introduced through structured analogies with familiar activities (e.g., baking a cake), fostering intuitive comprehension of abstract computational processes.
From natural to artificial models: the narrative moves from biological intelligence to artificial neural networks and Large Language Models, presented as probabilistic predictive systems. Visual diagrams and bridging questions support the formation of coherent mental representations and critical awareness of how AI systems operate.
Active practice through prompt engineering: after introducing an acronym-based prompt structure, participants engaged in guided experimentation with generative AI, evaluated outputs, and constructed vertical chats to develop foundational operational skills and reflective use.

At the conclusion of the workshop, participants completed a structured questionnaire assessing interest and perceived impact. For 94% this was their first AI-focused training experience. All expressed satisfaction with materials and technologies; 86% reported that the content exceeded expectations. Before the workshop, 72% rarely or never used generative AI; afterwards, all participants reported increased interest in AI tools and related initiatives.

These preliminary findings suggest that analogy-driven, hands-on, and narratively structured methodologies can reduce cognitive and emotional barriers to AI understanding, contributing to more inclusive and critically informed engagement with algorithmic systems. In this perspective, AI literacy becomes not only a technical competence, but a condition for democratic participation in digitally transformed societies.