January 2026 Meeting Recap
The Human Side of AI: Creativity, Curiosity and Change
presentation by Elettra Fiumi to the Women’s International Network
by L.A. Robbins
Elettra Fiumi, Florence-born filmmaker and founder of Fiumi Studios, a Swiss-based company, gave a talk on the myriad ways in which AI will impact our world in the coming years.
In an address to WIN members in January 2026, Fiumi told us that AI is shaping how we research, create and produce and how we communicate our successes. Digital assistance is a huge timesaver and a seemingly endless generator of inspiration, innovation and inspired final product. It has already sparked a revolution in our work lives and our society, influencing every industry, Fiumi reminded us. And it’s playing a fundamental role in how our children think and plan and act.
‘AI tools are trained on a massive amount of information called data sets. Once you understand how to speak to them to narrow down the intelligence to your needs, the possibilities are endless,’ Fiumi noted. ‘The field is developing so fast it’s hard to keep up. Now we’re in the dinosaur era of what AI will be able to do for us.’
After her first 18 years in Florence, Fiumi attended Mount Holyoke College, an all-women’s college on America’s east coast. For the next decade she worked in New York and elsewhere. A Creative Producer, Director, Consultant and Educator now based in Lugano, Switzerland, she makes films and documentaries* and offers
private workshops to AI aficionados.
‘AI changes how you imagine things,’ she said. It allows you to develop ten or more ideas simultaneously. Then you decide which one best fits your purpose. She reminded us that to sell yourself, your product or your service, you need to figure out what sets you apart, what makes you unique.’ Develop and implement this with AI tools and see the results.
In sync with the fast pace at which AI is shaping the landscape, Fiumi’s talk flew along at breakneck speed. Was your head spinning? No worries if you couldn’t keep up. The images in her AI-generated Powerpoint presentation elaborated what she was telling us; my smartie phone snapped them up to regurgitate here.
AI skills allow you to:
design polished drawings from simple sketches scribble a cartoon image on your phone while AI renders a sophisticated version
create a voice agent to answer phone calls. This synthetic voice, generated with ElevenLabs, can be trained and automated to interact with prospective clients. ‘You might lose $100 million because there’s no one to pick up a call,’ Fiumi explained. She created her voice agent in less than three hours use a vibe-coding program to builds worlds, apps and websites ‘Using natural language, you can issue instructions to produce whatever you can imagine.’
create first drafts, research summaries, data presentation. Complete repetitive tasks and produce translations to learn new things, make informed judgements and enhance strategic thinking to produce a report based on up to 500 sources, generating new sources beyond those you initially feed it. Make flashcards, mind-maps, quizzes, podcasts, and other study aids. NotebookLM is what you want: it’s one of the most under-used AI products.
design the perfect virtual tutor for your studies, learn a new language or improve in a language you are studyin,g
obtain explanations for a process or product you want to know more about
Personalise a product or presentation you like. Take a screenshot or make notes. Load this into ChapGPT or another Large Language Model (LLM) with instructions to create something similar, based on your personal goals and experience. Presto: your own presentation appears in less than a quarter of the time you could have cobbled
it together. You’ve snatched it; now make it yours.
develop skills you want to learn or improve with Claude, one of the leading Large Language Models.
‘Pick your favourite AI tool and master it,’ Fiumi challenged.
Negative aspects of AI?
Yes. Many jobs will disappear with the increasing presence of AI, but other jobs will appear, and old ones will evolve. Work will be accomplished faster, and products will be more promising. You will perform one job on your laptop and another on your phone. And insofar as intellectual property rights or identity theft is concerned, Fiumi says there is a long road ahead because institutions are slow to catch up.
Want to find out more?
Here’s the traditional way:
Here’s the modern way:
And here’s the AI way:
Ask ChatGPT about Fiumi.
Who knows? Did we really see the human side of AI at our meeting? Or was our speaker an avatar on stage while the real Elettra Fiumi was in Lugano, having dinner with friends?
*Fiumi directed Radical Landscapes, the award-winning documentary on Florence’s 9999 radical architecture group, and has created films for Netflix, Amazon Prime, BBC, The New Yorker, Estée Lauder, and Longines. She is part of the Creative Partner programs of leading AI tools including Runway, ElevenLabs Impact, CapCut, Pika, and Sora Alpha, merging documentary craft with generative technologies. She holds master’s degrees in AI for Business (Italian Tech Academy) and Digital Journalism (Columbia University) and is an alumna of Mount Holyoke College.
Elettra Fiumi
Founder & Filmmaker
Fiumi Studios | Fiumi Studios AI