The future is not predicted. It is understood. It is decided.
The summit starts from an observation: in eighteen months, entire professional categories have been reinvented, and almost no one has had time to stop and understand what was happening. This is why in Pompeii, not only technologists intervene, but also those who design, regulate, study, and use artificial intelligence every day to reshape their profession.
«My only merit was to intuit a latent need that everyone has: to stop, understand, decide. The summit is not just an event about technology, but a place where the protagonists of change sit at the same table to discuss how they are reinventing their professions. And it is no coincidence that it happens here: Pompeii is the city that preserves the memory of an interrupted civilization, chosen as a stage where another civilization, ours, decides how to face its fastest transformation», says the event founder Giovanni Sapere, techno-humanist, editorial director of The Patent Magazine and creator of the C-NDA Protocol, the system for protecting ideas in the AI era.
The voices of the summit
The scientific core of the program is the session on consciousness, mind, and new physics with Federico Faggin, the inventor of the world's first commercial microprocessor, now engaged in the scientific study of consciousness, together with physicists Giuseppe Vitiello, Alioscia Hamma, Paolo Silvestrini, Graziano Terenzi and Roberto Germano, led by Ettore De Lorenzo.
From international research come Mauro Martino (MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab), Cosimo Accoto, Derrick de Kerckhove, for twenty-five years at the helm of the McLuhan Program at the University of Toronto, Gianclaudio Malgieri (Maastricht University, external ethical expert for the European Commission), Aruneesh Salhotra (OWASP AI Exchange, New York), Angelo Dalli (UMNA maltaI), Luca Casali (Queensland University of Technology, Australia) and Gary Riccio (Nascent Science & Technology / NASA Johnson Space Center).
Businesses are represented, among others, by Alessandro Maresca (Microsoft), Arcangelo Di Balsamo (Google Cloud Italy), Francesca Protano (CNH), Nicola Longo (Comau), Antonio Morabito (TIM Enterprise) and Gaetano di Tondo (Archivi Olivetti), Ivan Mazzoleni (Flowe, Gruppo Mediolanum), Alessia Canfarini (BIP), Marcello Mari (Singularity DAO), Jessica Minghinelli, (former Director of Operations at Salesforce), and Massimo Chiriatti.
The institutional and academic front sees Elvira Raviele (Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy), Angelo Tofalo, former Undersecretary of State for Defense, Mariano Corso (Politecnico di Milano, Digital Innovation Observatories), Giorgio Ventre (Apple Developer Academy, University Federico II), Mario Caligiuri (University of Calabria, Italian Intelligence Society), Nicola Fabiano, former President of the Data Protection Authority of San Marino, and Mirko Perano (University of Salerno), coordinator of the scientific committee.
Five areas, over twenty panels, one common thread
The program is divided into five areas: the Soul (Creativity & Arts), Work (Business & Professions), Governance (Society & Institutions), the Body (Science & Life), Matter (Industry & Security). Over twenty panels on concrete topics, from legal tech to digital health, from industrial robotics to the fight against disinformation, from the AI Act to cybersecurity. The thread that binds them together is one: who decides, and how, when the machine proposes.
How to participate
Access is limited. The Nike Hall of the Nexus Congress Center has 364 seats: tickets, for one or two days, entitle you to an assigned seat in the hall and are available at humandriven-ai.com starting from 89 euros. With the rotation between sessions and the two days, the summit expects up to 1,200 total attendees, but the seats in the hall for each session remain 364. For those coming from outside the region, agreements are active with four hotels between Pompeii, Castellammare, and Sorrento, and dedicated transfers. The sessions will be streamed on LinkedIn on the summit's channels, with over 10,000 expected online users.
Two days of training, not just an event
By structure and content, the summit is configured as an intensive training course: over twenty panels over two days, led by speakers called to bring applied experiences and real decisions. Participants will receive a certificate of participation, valid for corporate and professional training purposes, along with a copy of the first volume of Human Driven AI, which collects contributions from the two editions and is presented in preview in Pompeii. Participation is completed by the summit kit with bag, badge, and materials, the mobile app with the program updated in real-time, and the simultaneous Italian-English translation service. The capacity is a format choice: it allows for direct interaction between speakers and the audience and makes the partner area, coffee station, and light lunch on both days effective moments for professional networking.
Patronages, institutions and partners
Conceived and promoted by: Human Driven AI Association
Institutions represented: Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy · Archaeological Park of Pompeii · Invitalia · Apple Developer Academy · MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab · MIT Boston · NASA Johnson Space Center · Maastricht University · Queensland University of Technology · OWASP · Federico and Elvia Faggin Foundation · UN University Global AI Network · TEDA Tirana (Albania) · University of Salerno · University of Naples Federico II · University of Calabria · CDTI – Club of Information Technology Executives · Politecnico di Milano – Digital Innovation Observatories · Politecnico di Torino
The summit is also built off-stage, with those who provide relationships, structures, and work: Brain Computing S.p.A., which has accompanied it since the first edition, Giffoni Innovation Hub S.r.l., CIO Club Italia and SPICI S.r.l. – Società per l’Innovazione.
The 2026 edition is made possible by the companies that support it by bringing expertise, people, and a perspective on their sector. The Human Driven AI Association and WitUp Ltd. extend their thanks to all of them.
Var Group, one of the main Italian groups in digital services, participates with iSquared, its artificial intelligence practice led by Angela Sebastianelli.
Estonian Business and Innovation Agency – e-Residency, the Estonian government agency that allows entrepreneurs from all over the world to digitally establish and manage a European company, present with Giuseppe Zenone, Country Manager for Italy.
Melazeta, over twenty-five years in digital media including gamification, Roblox, and extended reality, with CEO Lara Oliveti on the program for the first day.
BIP – Business Integration Partners, international consultancy born in Italy, with the Human Capital Center of Excellence led by Alessia Canfarini.
Animic, the Roman company that develops Yiami, the proximity social network without photos, likes, or followers that brings people together in real life, founded by Domenico Sandulli.
MAC Solution Insurance Broker, which brings to the summit the perspective of a sector, risk management, that AI is reshaping.
The summit reserves a space in the partner area of the Nike Hall for each, and for many, a scheduled intervention.