The Government Promotes a Law that Limits AI Innovation Instead of Enhancing It
While the rest of the world competes in AI development, Spain has decided to build fences in the field with a draft law that, rather than encouraging innovation and technological leadership, imposes restrictions, excessive regulations, and disproportionate penalties.
The Spanish Government has approved a draft law for the governance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) with the purported intention of ensuring an “ethical, inclusive, and beneficial” use of AI. However, instead of boosting investment in technology, developing talent, or attracting companies in the sector, it focuses on prohibitions, hefty fines, and bureaucratic barriers that will deter any company wanting to develop AI in the country.
The Minister for Digital Transformation and Public Function, Óscar López, justified the measure by stating that AI can be used to “improve our lives or attack democracy,” ignoring that the future of the global economy will depend on this technology and that major powers are investing billions in its development.
Prohibited Practices: Regulating the Uncontrollable
The European AI regulation already establishes a regulatory framework to prevent malicious uses of artificial intelligence. However, the Spanish Government has chosen to get ahead with even more restrictive measures, including:
- Prohibition of subliminal manipulation, which means the State will determine what information can influence citizens, opening the door to censorship.
- Prohibition of biometric classification, as if it were possible to halt the development of technologies that already exist and are used globally.
- Prohibition of social scoring systems, something that no one has proposed to implement in Spain, but that the Government wants to sell as a significant regulatory victory.
- Prohibition of emotional inference in businesses and education, ignoring that this technology can be key to improving the experience of employees and students.
All these prohibitions are absurd in a world where AI is already being widely used. Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Tesla will continue to advance these developments without any Spanish regulation being able to stop them. The only consequence will be that Spain falls behind, with no competitive companies in the sector and a brain drain to countries with fewer bureaucratic hurdles.
Hefty Fines for Companies Trying to Innovate
The penalties established in this new legislation make no sense in a context of global competition. While other countries incentivize the development of AI with funding and tax benefits, Spain threatens fines of up to 35 million euros or 7% of revenue for those who violate these arbitrary rules.
Companies developing AI in Spain will have to comply with a maze of regulations and will be monitored by bodies such as the Spanish Data Protection Agency, the Central Electoral Board, and the Spanish AI Supervision Agency. A state that can barely manage its own bureaucracy now intends to oversee global technological advancement.
AI Sandboxes: Another Bureaucratic Trap Disguised as Innovation
The Government boasts about getting ahead of the EU by creating a controlled testing environment (AI sandbox) for high-risk projects. But instead of fostering real development, this will be another system of permits and authorizations that will delay any advancements.
Any company wishing to test a new AI application will have to go through a bureaucratic selection and review process, subjecting itself to the rules of a government committee that will decide which projects can move forward and which cannot.
Meanwhile, in the U.S., China, and other countries, companies are experimenting and launching products in the market without waiting for bureaucratic approval.
Spain, Destined to be an AI Consumer, Not a Creator
The Government’s approach is clear: Spain will not compete in AI; it will simply consume what other countries develop. Instead of attracting investment, training experts, and creating incentives for tech startups to thrive, the message is that any company wanting to innovate in AI will have to deal with strict regulations, penalties, and state supervision.
Governments that are genuinely betting on AI are investing in infrastructure, facilitating talent attraction, and removing barriers for development. In Spain, however, the strategy is to regulate first, develop later (if there’s anything left to develop).
If this law remains as it is proposed, the future of AI in Spain will be bleak: leading companies will set up in other countries, researchers will emigrate, and the technology that will revolutionize the world will arrive in Spain with years of delay. But it will have all the labels and legal notices in place to comply with government regulations.
Source: AI News