Sánchez presents his plan for AI: "Without human control it is stupidity"

Madrid"Let no one have to choose between blind enthusiasm and fear." This is how the First Vice President and Minister of Economy, Carlos Cuerpo, summarized the goal of the Spanish government when it says it wants to regulate artificial intelligence (AI), especially at a time when the headlong rush into the AI era is being questioned. For some time now, the Spanish government has positioned itself in favor of regulating this technology both on a national and a global scale –Pedro Sánchez himself defended this in April, returned to it this Monday, and will showcase it this week in New York, where he will participate in the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly and meet with Zohran Mamdani.

Now, the central executive has taken another step in this direction with the presentation of IA360: Plan for a responsible deployment of AI. It is a strategy aimed at regulating and promoting the ethical use of artificial intelligence that the Spanish government intends to roll out over the next 12 months.

It is a plan so that Spain "takes advantage of the opportunities that AI offers [...] but which places citizen safety, trust, and the protection of the most vulnerable, starting with minors, at the center," explained Sánchez from Moncloa. The document is expected to be made public throughout the day.

"If history has shown us one thing, it is that self-regulation does not work," stated Sánchez, who did not hesitate to once again point to the companies that own AI, but also the countries that control it: "If AI remains concentrated in a few hands and in a few countries, its impact will not be negative, but devastating," said the Spanish President. "An opaque AI, in a stampede and in few hands, is the perfect cocktail for a disaster to happen. An AI without human control is chaos and stupidity," he asserted.

Plan axes

The Spanish government maintains that this regulation cannot be done in just any way. The ambition is for it to be "cutting-edge" AI, Sánchez said, but at the same time "transparent with people." The plan presented this Monday has four pillars. The first consists of strengthening the technological muscle that the State possesses. Here, projects come into play such as the artificial intelligence (AI) gigafactory that is intended to be developed in Móra la Nova and Madrid or the new AI models that are being developed hand in hand with the Barcelona Supercomputing Center. In addition, the government is committed to data centers, while setting energy and environmental standards.

Afterwards, it aims to strengthen AI access for SMEs and self-employed workers – the goal of the plan is that by 2030 more than half of companies will have integrated the technology into their activity –, as well as for future workers. For this reason, the plan foresees an adaptation of the curriculum in secondary school and vocational training.

Meeting with social agents

The third axis focuses on security: specifically, cybersecurity and oversight regarding the most offensive frontier models. Finally, it calls for a "social contract" regarding AI, which would translate into a national pact. Sánchez plans to convene social partners in November to address this.

The presentation event for the plan, which took place at La Moncloa, was attended by various ministers as well as social partners, unions, and employer organizations, along with experts from the technology sector.