BarcelonaTen universities in the State, including the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), have created ConfIA, a network with the aim of establishing coordinated artificial intelligence development aligned with the new European regulation. As explained by Ulises Cortés, professor of AI at UPC, researcher at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, and president of this network, the main factor that has driven its creation has been the entry into force of the new phase of the European Union's Artificial Intelligence Act, the EU AI Act, on August 2nd.

The AI Act began to be applied throughout Europe in February last year and, until now, has prohibited its use for manipulation and deception, and for mass biometric surveillance by authorities in public spaces. This new regulation addresses transparency: from now on, users will be informed when they are interacting with systems that use AI, or when they consume content generated or altered by AI. From September, member states and their companies will have to adapt their legislation to comply with the new guidelines, and ConfIA will be a state-level reference point to help administrations that use it – such as the Generalitat or the Barcelona City Council – ensure its use complies with the new regulations.

"As universities, we are the ones who teach future engineers how to design responsible AI adapted to legislation," added Cortés. ConfIA is born to establish an organizational fabric within the State, including Catalonia, which Cortés has described as "one of the gravitational centers" for AI development in Spain and Europe. In fact, despite being a pioneering initiative in the State, other similar collaborative projects have been created in the last decade across Europe, including France, Belgium, and Finland.

Specifically, ConfIA will allow the coordination of different centers to ensure that students are offered training adapted to the new European regulations, and it will also organize conferences and activities to promote connection between the centers. "We will transmit best practices to our students so that the guidelines are met," he explained. "There are universities that have been researching AI since 1982," said Cortés. The network will allow them to join forces and create AI systems that are "more robust, secure, and transparent" and adapted to the new regulations.

Joint projects

Apart from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, which integrates this network through its Intelligent Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Research Center (IDEAI-UPC), the other nine universities from across the State that make up the group are the Polytechnic University of Valencia, through the Valencian University Research Institute in Artificial Intelligence (VRAIN-UPV), the Digital Intelligence Center (CiDi) of the University of Alicante, the CITIC of the University of A Coruña, and the R&D&I Center in Artificial Intelligence of the Polytechnic University of Madrid. All these universities integrate AI research centers that are pioneers in its development.

In addition to ensuring an AI development aligned with the new guidelines, the initiative will also allow universities to promote joint research projects. The network will also facilitate coordination and collaboration between research center teams to develop joint projects and submit them to national and international calls, as well as to access economic funds.

Jordi Delgado, director of IDEAI, explained that ConfIA will also serve to "put some sense" into the wave of overinformation – and, at times, disinformation – about AI. By having researchers who have been working on it for decades, ConfIA will serve as a reference point to which the State and the media can turn to obtain solid and rigorous information about these technologies and "get down to business" on what developments are actually being carried out.