Rome AI Festival, Tackling Future of Global Creative Economy
ROME, Oct 20 (IPS)
As generative artificial intelligence continues its rapid, often disruptive, advance across global industries, a new festival scheduled for December 30, 2025, in the heart of the eternal city is set to address one of the most pressing questions of our time: What is the future for human artists in an increasingly automated world?
The inaugural Rome AI Festival, the first of its kind in the Italian capital, is already attracting significant international attention. Organizers have confirmed commitments from several major partners and speakers from around the globe, positioning the event as a critical forum for a global dialogue on how AI is reshaping the creative economy, impacting artists’ livelihoods, and challenging cultural identity.
The festival is the brainchild of Riccardo Vincenzi, a native Roman whose career path mirrors the very disruption the festival seeks to address. After moving to the United States at 17, he built a successful career in Los Angeles with his production company, Film33 Studios. However, the rise of AI prompted a profound shift in his mission.
“For creatives everywhere, from Hollywood to developing nations, AI felt like an existential threat,” Vincenzi explains. “But the real challenge isn’t to fight the technology; it’s to shape it. We need to build a future where AI serves as a collaborator for human artists, not a replacement.”
This philosophy is embodied by one of the festival’s key sponsors, Spunto AI. Billed as the first marketplace for generative AI creative talent, Spunto has a unique purpose. Unlike platforms that could sideline human talent, it is designed to use AI to channel paid projects back to a global community of human artists, designers, and creatives. It’s a model that champions human-centric AI, ensuring the benefits of this technological leap are distributed equitably.
The Rome AI Festival is an extension of that mission on a global scale. The event will bring together not just technologists, but also filmmakers, artists, policymakers, and ethicists to debate the profound implications of AI in the arts. Key discussions will focus on intellectual property rights, the preservation of cultural diversity in AI-generated content, and strategies to prevent the further marginalization of artists in the digital economy.
By hosting this event in Rome, a city synonymous with the pinnacle of human artistic achievement for millennia, the festival sends a powerful message. It poses a fundamental question: Can the city that gave the world masterpieces of human hands now lead the conversation on defining the soul of the machine?
For the international development and civil society communities that IPS serves, the festival represents a crucial opportunity to influence policy and practice. The goal is to ensure that the ongoing AI revolution in the creative sector fosters inclusivity and empowers artists, rather than simply concentrating power in the hands of a few tech giants.
As Vincenzi puts it, “We are at a crossroads. The decisions we make today will determine whether AI becomes a tool for unprecedented human creativity and connection, or one that deepens inequality. Bringing this conversation to Rome is an invitation to the world to help choose the right path.”