• Óscar López has extended the government’s hand to the collective to fight against disinformation, “we play a lot, but in that way your role is essential. Without journalism there is no democracy. So you can continue counting on the government to move forward and implement those tools for good and not for bad.”
• The incumbent has defended the European model for the governance of AI and has claimed the progress made by Spain in this matter, such as the recent launch of the Spanish Agency for the Supervision of Artificial Intelligence
  

The Minister for Digital Transformation and Public Function, Óscar López, has reiterated the need to regulate the use of artificial intelligence in contexts such as that of the media to fight against disinformation and to safeguard democracy. “We have to participate together in the debate on democracy, those of us who love democracy, those of us who respect the freedom of opinion and information of the media, and those of us who defend the difference between truth and lies, between data and intercourse. We all put a lot of effort into it,” I said.

The minister made these statements in the presentation of the IA report for journalists: enemy or ally?, which took place today in Madrid. The study, carried out by the news agency Servimedia and the consultancy Estudio de Comunicación, reveals some of the keys to the use that journalists make of artificial intelligence, as well as their perception about the opportunities and risks it brings. “We have to know what we want, if we want to govern ourselves to artificial intelligence or if artificial intelligence ends up governing us,” said Óscar López.

In this regard, the minister defended the European model in terms of AI regulation based, as he stressed, “on human rights, on the technological humanism of the privacy of our data and the protection of our minors” and recalled that Spain is the first European country to launch an AI Supervision Agency, that has launched a family of public and open AI language models and that has made progress by signing a Digital Rights Charter. “We are therefore the most advanced in the world in terms of regulation. It is Europe and Spain that carry the flag in regulation,” he added.

During his speech, the headline also highlighted the value of the media in our society, whose work guarantees the right of citizens to access information. “There is a debate about pure democracy. Artificial intelligence has immense opportunities such as cancer or Alzheimer’s research, but it also has risks. To defend democracy there is a fundamental pillar that is journalists, the independent press, which reports and guarantees Article 20 of our Constitution,” he added.

In this context, he recalled some of the measures implemented by the Government of Spain and promoted by the Action Plan for Democracy, such as the more than 120 million euros aimed at strengthening the digitisation of this industry. “We are at the forefront in regulation and also in development. We put in place a plan of aid for the media, specific aid for this and other sectors. Our model is to democratize AI.”

In his opinion, the future of journalism depends on the ability to adapt the new technologies to the democratic tradition, “we play a lot, but in that way your role is essential. Without journalism there is no democracy. So you can continue counting on the government to move forward and implement those tools for better and not for worse,” he concluded.