Gen Z: Builders of the Future Between Technology and Ethics

I am teaching a university course on AI Leadership: Human + Machine. It is a journey that touches on technical themes like artificial intelligence but places something greater at the center: human values and critical thinking. I do not just teach how to understand how technology works, but how to reflect on how to use it to build the world we want. In my book, “Nemmeno gli struzzi lo fanno più. Vivere bene con l’intelligenza artificiale”, I wrote that “artificial intelligence is only a tool, but not a destiny.” This concept remains the heart of the message I want to convey to my students. We, as Generation X and Y, were the pioneers of this revolution, but Gen Z will be the true protagonist. It will be their task to decide how to use this technology and what values to put into it.

Technology and Humanity: Two Legs for the Future

In the book, I emphasize that technology cannot decide for us. I like to explain this concept with a metaphor I often use with my students: technology and emotional intelligence are like two legs. The artificial leg is powerful and robust, but without the biological leg – our humanity – we risk falling. It is easy to delegate everything to technology, but without critical thinking and ethics, we lose control.

AI challenges us on two fronts: it helps us do more, but it also pushes us to do less, risking a reduction in our engagement. We live in a paradox: we are simultaneously more powerful and more fragile. It is up to us to decide which side to feed. Marianne Wolf, author of Reader, Come Home, warns of the risk of abandoning deep reading, the kind that allows us to reflect with slowness and connection. It is a reflection that I find urgent for Gen Z: understanding that we must not only be reactive, but reflective.

Socrates and AI: A Philosophical Reflection

In the book, I talk about human responsibility in the use of AI. If I think of Socrates and his maieutics, I imagine that today he would invite us to question ourselves like this:

• “Does this technology bring us closer to our human essence or distance us from it?”
• “Are we using AI to solve real problems or to create useless distractions?”

Socrates did not accept superficial answers, and I believe the same approach is fundamental when we talk about technology. We must not passively accept innovation, but challenge it with deep questions. Only in this way can we choose in which direction to guide progress.

The Role of Gen Z: Ethics, Innovation, and Vision

Ethics is not a limit to innovation, but its greatest ally. This is a message I want to get across to my students: artificial intelligence is neither good nor bad. It is a neutral tool, and it is up to us to decide how to use it. This is their task: to guide technology with ethics and strategic vision.

When I think of Gen Z, I see enormous potential. They will be the ones to answer questions that my generation has only begun to ask:

• How to use AI to personalize without invading privacy?
• How to balance automation and human labor?
• How to build companies that are innovative, but also inclusive and sustainable?

AI must be a partner, not a master. This requires critical thinking, but above all, awareness. Gen Z is not just the generation that will inherit technology: it is the one that will decide how it will influence future generations.

A Leap Toward Humanity

In the “ostrich” book, as some remember it for its blue cover featuring a winking ostrich, there is a phrase that I still feel as a mission today: “The future is not written by technology, but by those who use it.” Gen Z has the responsibility to build a world that is not only technologically advanced, but deeply human. We, as Generation X and Y, can give them the tools. But the course, the vision, and the courage to decide which way to go will be theirs.