Madrid, May 14, 2024.- The Council of Ministers approved today, at the proposal of the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Service, the 2024 Artificial Intelligence Strategy. The strategy gives continuity to the initiatives deployed by the Government of Spain so far in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), adapting them to the notable changes experienced in this technology in recent years.
This strategy reinforces Spain’s commitment to the technological vanguard, reaffirming its position as a leader in the development and application of AI solutions. It is an ambitious plan, designed to consolidate and expand the use of AI in the economy as a whole and in public administration. Its deployment will take place in 2024 and 2025, and will have resources of 1.5 billion euros, in addition to the 600 million already mobilized, mainly from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan and the addendum to that Plan.
The 2024 Artificial Intelligence Strategy is structured in 3 axes that will activate 8 action levers.
Axis 1: Strengthening capacities for AI development
This axis of the strategy emphasizes the need to strengthen the levers for the development of Artificial Intelligence to be able to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by this technology, which is showing so much dynamism. Specifically, this axis focuses on four elements: the reinforcement of supercomputing, sustainable storage capacity, language models and the need for talent.
First, the AI 2024 Strategy starts from the reality that supercomputing is a fundamental pillar for the advancement of AI. For this reason, it envisages the investment of 90 million euros for the implementation of new highly specialized clusters, which will allow to improve the performance of the PaulNostrum 5, of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center-National Supercomputing Center (BSC-CNS), and the reinforcement of the Spanish Supercomputing Network. These actions aim to significantly increase the data processing capabilities available to the industry and research sector, allowing more advanced and complex developments in AI. In addition, to encourage the use of AI by companies, the Strategy includes a commitment to dedicate 20% of the PaulNostrum 5’s capacity to the industry.
Secondly, the strategy includes initiatives for the establishment of environmentally sustainable Data Processing Centers (CPDs), through a new regulatory framework that improves the planning of these infrastructures and simplifies administrative procedures, as well as territorially ordering the implementation of future CPDs. These measures will position Spain as a reference in the implementation of AI practices that respect the environment and promote the efficient use of resources.
Thirdly, this axis includes the creation and expansion of a family of language models in Spanish and co-official languages that will be called ALIA, whose first results will be available at the end of the summer. These models, which will have more than 20% training in Spanish and co-official languages, compared to less than 5% of current models, will allow to reduce biases and improve the practical applications that companies and administrations of our country can develop.
Finally, the fourth lever of this axis is the promotion of talent specialized in Artificial Intelligence in a context in which there is a great demand for professionals. The Strategy will promote the creation of networks and the search for synergies between the projects that are already underway and that have involved an investment of 600 million euros. In addition, it will invest another 160 million more in scholarships, vocational training and teacher training, among other issues.
Axis 2: Facilitating the application of AI in the public and private sector
Within the framework of this axis, a procedure will be articulated for the implementation of AI in the General State Administration (AGE), through the GobTech Lab project, which will channel the cases of use of this technology through an innovation laboratory to develop pilot projects and innovative solutions for the entities of the state public sector. In addition, a common data and corpus governance model of the AGE will be developed that guarantees standards of security-anonymity, quality, interoperability and reuse of data.
Secondly, to promote the development of AI in the private sector, especially in the area of SMEs and the self-employed, the Kit Consulting program will be developed, with 300 million euros, so that smaller business projects can hire advisory services for the adoption of AI. In addition, the Digital Kit program has been expanded with the incorporation of new AI products and an investment of 350 million. Also, 400 million euros will be dedicated through the NextTech Fund with the aim of providing funding to companies that develop AI solutions.
This axis is completed with the future Cybersecurity Law, which will establish a clear and integral framework to develop national cybersecurity and improve the protection of information systems, networks and data, and with the promotion of the business ecosystem of cybersecurity with AI that will promote innovation, collaboration and the adoption of AI technologies in the field of cybersecurity.
In addition, for initiatives under axes 1 and 2 (lever 4 and 6), up to 300 million will be invested from the ERDF Funds.
Axis 3: Fostering transparent, ethical and humanistic AI
The fulfillment of the objectives of this axis will be articulated through the Spanish Agency for Supervision of Artificial Intelligence (AESIA), which will act in a triple direction: as a center of thought and analysis on AI (analyzing trends, generating social debate and identifying good practices and emerging risks), as a supervisor of a responsible deployment of AI (certifying AI systems in accordance with European AI regulations and establishing good practices to promote transparent and open models) and as an international reference (participating in the European and global institutions of AI governance).
In his assessment during the press conference following the Council of Ministers, the Minister for Digital Transformation and Public Service, José Luis Escrivá, said that "this strategy not only strengthens our technological infrastructure and innovation capabilities, but also ensures that the development of Artificial Intelligence in our country is carried out under the highest standards of sustainability and ethics. It is a step towards a more digitalized and competitive economy, where technology serves the well-being of all citizens."
Monitoring and governance model
The Artificial Intelligence Strategy and its initiatives will be coordinated by the Secretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence, but due to its scope and impact, all Ministries will participate.
To this end, the Inter-Ministerial Commission for the Coordination and Monitoring of Measures for the Connectivity and Digitalization of the Economy and Society has recently been established within the General Administration of the State. The Commission is chaired by the head of the State Secretariat for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence. Through this committee, the different phases of the measures that make up the Strategy will be informed and followed up.
In addition, specifically for Lever 3 of the Strategy, “Generating Models and Corpus for a Public Infrastructure of Language Models”, a governance agreement has been designed in which 15 specialized institutions participate, such as the Basque Language Technology Center (HiTZ) and the Singular Research Center in Intelligent Technologies (CiTIUS) of the University of Santiago de Compostela, among others.
Finally, with the objective that the Strategy will serve to improve the processes of the Administration, meetings will be held on a biannual basis of the ICT Strategy Commission, the highest ICT governance body in the General Administration of the State, in which all the Ministries are represented, in order to detect, select and deploy use cases in which clear benefits are seen for the improvement of the service to citizens, and to have a more efficient and effective administration.