On Saturday, September 13, 2025, a meeting was held at the Church of San Giovanni in Mercogliano to discuss one of the most debated issues of our time: the impact of artificial intelligence on society, including its opportunities and risks. The event brought together academics, public officials and entrepreneurs to foster a broad, multidisciplinary discussion of a phenomenon set to radically transform the way we live and work.
Among the speakers was Beniamino Izzo, CEO of 3DRap, who shared his firsthand experience as an entrepreneur and innovator, drawing a parallel between artificial intelligence and another disruptive technology his company knows well: 3D printing.
From Fear to Change: The Lesson of 3D Printing
“When people talk about new technologies, the initial reaction is almost always the same: fear, mistrust and skepticism,” Izzo noted. “We experienced it ourselves in the early days, when we presented 3D printing as a production method. Many saw it as a threat to traditional processes, as something that would take away more than it would give.”
The reality, however, turned out to be different. Thanks to open source and grassroots innovation, 3D printing has democratized access to production, enabling even small companies like 3DRap to grow and establish themselves in the global market.
AI as a Complementary Tool
According to Izzo, artificial intelligence today is at the same stage that 3D printing went through years ago: it is perceived as a danger, but it is actually a powerful complementary tool. “It does not replace human creativity and vision,” he explained, “but frees up time and resources from tedious, repetitive tasks. This allows businesses to focus on innovation, the quality of work and creating value that customers can recognize.”
3DRap’s Firsthand Experience
To illustrate his point, Izzo described 3DRap’s internal experience: “At first, everything was manual: invoices, inventory, sales records. For a small business, that meant extremely high costs, errors and an unsustainable amount of time. Introducing intelligent digital tools allowed us to automate these processes without taking anyone’s job away, while giving our employees the opportunity to devote themselves to more skilled and creative work.”
Guide Progress, Don’t Fight It
Izzo’s final message was clear: “There is no point in resisting these changes: anyone who tries to stop progress gets left behind. The real challenge is learning to use technology as a means of creating value, improving the quality of work and developing new skills. Just as 3D printing enabled us to build 3DRap, AI should also be seen as an opportunity to accelerate growth, especially for small and medium-sized businesses.”
The Mercogliano meeting once again showed how urgently we need to address artificial intelligence with a critical but constructive outlook, one that recognizes not only the risks but, above all, the opportunities for growth it brings.
