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AI with a 💖— Supporting 700-Year-Old Italian Art and Culture during COVID-19 Together.

The COVID-19 pandemic has prevented people from being able to travel and be around large groups of people, and as a result, many famous historic locations that financially rely on tourist revenue are greatly suffering. In an effort to support one of Italy’s greatest displays of historic art and architecture, Querlo has recently created a chatbot that is aimed at encouraging people to donate to help maintain Italy’s wonderful monuments of cultural and artistic importance. 

This chatbot is not only practical in the sense that it will increase the number of donations these monuments receive, but it is also informative since it allows people to learn more about the Opera del Duomo through a series of short videos that give tours of parts of the complex and provide an overview of the culture they bring to Italy. It creates an exchange of knowledge and passion to join people together to help keep the 700-year-old beauty and history of these monuments alive. 

Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore https://operaduomo.firenze.it/en

One of the most innovative and clever features of this chatbot is that it allows people to have virtual “conversations” with artists from the Renaissance period. For example, people are able to “interact” with Donatello, Filippo Brunelleschi, Michaelangelo, and others. People can ask the artists questions they have about COVID-19, concerns they may, or anything else. Through these conversations, people who are experiencing loss and loneliness during this pandemic can relate to Renniasance artists who likely endured similar difficulties during their own time. Their questions will also help train the Natural Language Understanding (NLU) abilities of this chatbot. The arts, and the culture and spirituality associated with them, are an excellent way to find comfort.

This chatbot supports both people and historic institutions during this time when comfort is much needed. This type of technology can also be used to help and support other causes or institutions that are struggling with similar issues due to the COVID-19 pandemic. If you are interested in learning more about Querlo’s Artificial Intelligence programs, reach out to info@querlo.com.

How the Italian Renaissance can help us enter the post-COVID-19-era.

I am looking at the financial crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic as an interesting parallel to what happened in the 14th Century when the European economy went into recession.

The Hundred Years’ War between England and France triggered a European crisis, particularly when King Edward III of England didn’t pay his debt to my home town, Florence. This forced the two largest Florentine banks, the Bardi and Peruzzi, to collapse. I see a parallel to the wars following 9/11 and the financial crisis of 2008.

The Black Plague was even more devastating, as it killed millions of people in Europe. Florence lost 50% of its population, and the plague triggered the revolt of the Florentine textile workers, the Ciompi, in 1378. I see this as the equivalent of the SARS and Covid-19 Pandemics with millions of people in social and business isolation.

The Black Plague resulted in labour shortages and higher wages, which then created a wealthier population. The new demand for products generated new financial systems and trading opportunities. The collapse of the Bardi and Peruzzi banks gave space to the Medici bank, powered by a new Double Ledger accounting system that allowed them to run a European-World-class banking network. I see a parallel with Bitcoin and other Blockchain solutions triggered by the 2008 financial crisis, and the introduction of Artificial Intelligence to improve productivity, Business, and Social Intelligence.

Renaissance banking families and political dynasties like the Medici family sponsored inventors like Brunelleschi and Leonardo Da Vinci, artists like Donatello and Michelangelo. I believe that learning from the Italian Renaissance will help us propel humanity into a new Renaissance leveraging the Arts, Culture, Spirituality, Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence.

With Power comes Responsibility, and this is why organizations that hold knowledge must take the responsibility to guide the world out of this crisis, and ignite a new Renaissance. This is why Querlo partnered with The Opera del Duomo of Florence, combining its customized Artificial Intelligence solutions with 700 years of Arts, Culture, and Spirituality. You can read more about my perspective on this matter in this article I published back in 2014 when we established payments in Bitcoin to reward high-school female students in Afghanistan. If you have comments and suggestions or if you want to contribute with your perspective, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at fr@querlo.com.

Please visit www.Querlo.com/chat/opera to learn more about what we are doing and take the opportunity to ask great questions to the artists of the Renaissance, this will allow us to train our NLU (natural language understanding) and give a new life to artists and inventors like Brunelleschi, Michelangelo, Donatello and Leonardo Da Vinci. Grazie!