Complexity & Systems of MeaningGet the book

Part I

Novelty vs. innovation

What changed in the work, beyond the tool?

The idea, in brief

I return to an argument I wrote in 2019 to distinguish novelty from innovation. I focus on changes to processes and value creation, rather than the introduction of a tool alone. I examine AI enthusiasm through this distinction and the MIT NANDA report discussed in the chapter.

Here I summarise the chapter’s argument. Below you will find an excerpt from my book and the references I cite there, numbered as in the bibliography.

Companion page reviewed · 17 October 2026

From the book’s companion

An excerpt from my book

Original Italian text, from the chapter opening. · 1 min

Avevo chiuso, in precedenza, invitando a cambiare le domande; e la prima parola da rimettere in discussione, mi accorgo, è proprio quella di "nuovo". C'è un'estate, nella vita di ogni osservatore del presente, in cui le cose già viste tornano con la forza a confondere le cose nuove. L'estate del 2025 ha avuto per me questa caratteristica: settimane di letture sull'AI, decine di articoli, ricerche, dichiarazioni di intenti, e alla fine la sensazione di aver già percorso quella strada, non parlando e pensando strettamente e solamente all'AI, ma a qualcos'altro di, quanto meno, affine. Il ragionamento che mi è tornato in mente lo avevo scritto nel 2019, in un contesto completamente diverso, quando l'AI generativa non era ancora nei titoli dei giornali e il dibattito sull'innovazione riguardava IoT, blockchain, e le prime effettive incursioni del machine learning nelle practice aziendali. Lo avevo intitolato "Critica alla contemporanea ambiguità semantica del termine innovazione", che è esattamente il tipo di titolo che si dà a un testo quando si vuole celare dietro un'apparente aria composta un furore crescente. Il ragionamento di allora, riletto oggi, calza perfettamente. Forse troppo perfettamente.

My note

As anticipated, for this chapter too I drew heavily on Odifreddi's talks and speeches, and I tried to set them in perspective and in relation to a few elements from the “history of thought” that marked me deeply in my “youth”. I happened to share part of this material at a few public events, especially those of the FDO (For Disruptors Only) community, created almost ten years ago by Egidio Alagia (with a small contribution from me).

The chapter’s infographics

Enlarge each plate to inspect it. The overview and extended text above explain the chapter in text; they are not a word-for-word transcription of the images.

Chapter infographic map #

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References I cite in this chapter

I have gathered the references cited in this chapter, preserving the entries and numbering of my book’s bibliography. Links are included only where supplied in the book.

  • [25] Challapally, Aditya, Chris Pease, Ramesh Raskar e Pradyumna Chari. The GenAI Divide: State of AI in Business 2025. Tech report, MIT NANDA Project, 2025.
  • [112] Schumpeter, Joseph A. Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy. Harper & Brothers, New York, 1942. (Traduzione italiana: Capitalismo, socialismo e democrazia, Etas, Milano, 2001).
  • [77] LeGrande, Craig e Venky Lakshminarayanan. AI-Driven Value Management: How AI Can Help Bridge the Gap Across the Enterprise to Achieve Customer Success. John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ, 2024.
  • [119] Thomas, Rob, Paul Zikopoulos e Kate Soule. AI Value Creators: Beyond the Generative AI User Mindset. O'Reilly Media, Sebastopol, CA, 2025.
  • [91] Musiol, Martin. Generative AI: Navigating the Course to the Artificial General Intelligence Future. John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ, 2024.
A term is unfamiliar? Open the glossary →

Bring it into your work

What changed in the work, beyond the tool?

Write down one real example, identify what you would delegate and name who will check the result.

Use the worksheet

Connected ideas

is introduced by

From God to Google

from the principle of authority to debunking novelty

introduces

ConcrEthica

from the novelty/innovation confusion to the ethical question

reinforces

From AI User to AI Value Creator

novelty/innovation anticipates AI User → Value Creator

contributes to

The formula of meaning

A_A — adoption mistaken for transformation

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Riccardo Bovetti · Essay · English edition. Purchase and current availability on Amazon.

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