López defends Spanish government regulations in technology: "We are not dystopian"

BarcelonaThe Minister for Digital Transformation, Óscar López, has defended the Spanish government's strategy for regulating AI and digital tools. In an intervention at the first Meeting for Digital Rights, held this Thursday at the Llotja de Mar in Barcelona, López assured that the executive's proposals in this regard, such as the prohibition of minors' access to social networks, are "common sense".

According to López, society's adaptation to new digital tools "is not a technological discussion, but a political one of the first magnitude." In this sense, he advocated for a "model that does not put democracy at risk" with innovations such as artificial intelligence.

He acknowledged that, unlike the American laissez faire, the Spanish and European proposal "is not the fastest or the cheapest," but it is the most "reliable."

Without "techno-pessimism"

In the same vein as Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo expressed on Wednesday in his presentation at the revived CaixaBank Financial Circle, López has denied that the Spanish government is "techno-pessimistic or dystopian" in its approach to artificial intelligence.

In fact, he recalled that the Spanish state has already activated more than 30 billion euros from European funds for various projects related to this technology, such as chip and semiconductor factories or new university chairs and training in high technology. Nevertheless, he also advocates for certain limits on both technology and the infrastructure that underpins it, such as data centers, with a recent decree that "combats the speculation that was occurring".

He highlighted the work of entities such as the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), and the capacity that the local technological fabric provides for attracting projects like European artificial intelligence factories. And not only that: according to the minister, the next technological advances that the European Union undertakes will pass through Spain as a central player.

In the medium term, the next step is quantum computing, in which the BSC will be an indispensable tool. "Now comes quantum, and keep an eye on your screens because Spain will be a world leader in it," he celebrated.