The Government plans to launch within a month the invitation to companies to participate in the technical tests of the test bed of the European regulation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) with the aim of having the first conclusions “probably” in November.
The Secretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence, Carme Artigas, explained in an interview with EFE that these dates would allow the Government to present the results during the presidency of Spain of the European Union (EU), as planned.
“Our idea is that during the presidency of Spain the European Union, probably in November, we can already present the preliminary work and the first conclusions of the regulatory campus,” said Artigas in the framework of the Mobile World Congress (MWC), which was held until last Thursday in Barcelona.
Spain will test this regulation at a time of special relevance after the rise of programs such as ChatGPT, which “is the demonstration that we are facing an unprecedented technological convergence where connectivity, new human-machine interfaces and all AI applications are present in any area of the industry,” according to Artigas.
With regard to the presidency of Spain of the EU, Artigas believes that it will be loaded “with great digital content”, since being the last presidency, all the legislative files that are being developed and that have not been completed, will have to be closed during that period.
“We already know that we are going to lead the criminal negotiations and finish the legislative file of the European artificial intelligence (AI) regulation, we also have to develop and finish the Cyber Resilience Law, which will affect all elements of hardware and software, and a law linked to interoperability,” he said.
Alongside these regulations, the Government could also be responsible for completing the European Digital Identity regulation and the European Governance Data Act if Sweden does not do so during its mandate.
AN ECOSYSTEM OF . “UNIQUE” QUANTUM PUTATION
During the MWC, the Government has advanced that it plans to invest up to 240 million euros for the development of quantum computing in Spain, with the aim of creating “a mixed ecosystem of unique computing in Europe”, thanks to the combination “of classical computing and quantum computing”, according to Artigas.
In fact, the Government expects the first quantum computer – which will be available during 2023 and will be located at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) – to reach 30 qubits of speed in 2025.
To this computer will be added another co-financed with the European High Performance Computing Joint Venture (EuroHPC Ju), on which Artigas did not want to venture exact deadlines to see it in operation.
NEGOTIATIONS WITH BRUSSELS
With regard to the Digital Kit, Artigas explained that the Government’s objective is that there are no remainders, so they have proposed to Brussels that the ceiling of the program is not limited to companies with less than 50 workers.
In this regard, the Secretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence considers that the great challenge is in the self-employed and that if the Government manages “that 30% or 40%” of them request it, it will already be “a success”.
“Even so, in that scenario we may have some remnant, which is what we want to take advantage of for companies with more than 50,” he said.
Artigas also highlighted the reforms and investments made by the Executive, which have made it possible to turn Spain “into one of the most attractive countries to invest, to undertake and to attract talent”.
Some projects that in many cases the Government is developing together with the autonomous communities, with which a “very rich but also complex” work is produced, with the aim of ensuring that “in Spain all citizens have access to the same quality services and the same levels of access to advanced technologies”.
All during an MWC in Barcelona of which Artigas has not only highlighted that he has recovered “the maximum levels of audience before the pandemic”, but also “the fact that the city is already confirmed as the permanent venue of the congress”.