Carme Artigas believes that "technological progress only makes sense if it is at the service of social progress"

June 13 (Portaltic/EP) –

The Secretary of State for Digitization and Artificial Intelligence (AI), Carmen Artigas, has pronounced on the new current technologies and the configuration of the so-called digital humanism, stressing that the Technological progress “only makes sense if it is at the service of social progress”.

This was stated during his presentation ‘The digitization of the Spanish economy and digital humanism’, framed in the event ‘Global Trends 2023’, organized by the United States Chamber of Commerce in Spain (AmChamSpain) and Europa Press, which analyzed some of the global trends in this area.

First of all, Artigas pointed out that the world is currently in a “moment of transition” with transformations “very deep at the technological level” that have direct implications for society and individuals. “The new model is yet to be built and full of uncertainties,” she said.

Thus, he pointed out that the decisions taken today “will decide the future” and that, for this reason, the governments and institutionsas well as the social agents and educators must give “a step forward with digital as a transforming axis”.

In this way, Artigas has not only referred to the technology that is used on a day-to-day basis, but also to many intangible assets that make it up, such as the talent, innovation, data, AI, neurotechnologies or synthetic biology. In this sense, he has pointed out that countries and governments are entering into “international racing” to be able to develop and be leaders in all these technologies.

However, in these races for leadership and development, technology must have a focus oriented on “values ​​and rights” that protect and serve society. “Technological progress only makes sense if it is at the service of social progress”, he has sentenced.

INFLUENCE OF SPAIN AND REGULATION

In this sense, Artigas has recalled actions that Spain is carrying out on an international levelsuch as its partnership with the United States and Great Britain to launch the OECD Global Technology Forum, in which the benefits of new technologies are analyzed, but, above all, the risks in order to “mitigate them”. Likewise, this forum guarantees a joint vision of technology in a geostratetic block.

With all this, the Secretary of State for Digitization and Artificial Intelligence (AI) has once again highlighted in this meeting the need to “address an ethical and legal context of AI, with a global vision”.

In his opinion, we must look in the same direction and bet on promoting innovation, but for this, an agenda must be made bilateral policy that “contributes to the digital and green transition”. Something that, as he recalled, is an “important priority” of the Spanish Presidency of the European Union (EU), which is about to be assumed.

The European Union has led “for years” the regulatory vocationso that’s the “only way” to harmonize technological development with the protection of fundamental rights. That is why he believes that Spain still has time “to not interrupt development and innovation, while protecting fundamental rights.”

However, it has also stressed that it must be a regulation “sensible” and that, in this area, Spain “has a significant role”. Based on this, he has recalled that in the In the year 2020, Spain had already developed the bill of digital rights, which “has served as a reference for the EU”. Likewise, he has insisted that the regulation of The EU does not intend to regulate AI itself, but rather its risky uses.

On the other hand, it has put the focus on the Importance of Sustainability Regarding Generative AIs since, according to what he said, “today they are energetically unsustainable” and a use of technology that is compatible with the environment must be sought.

Finally, the Secretary of State for Digitization and Artificial Intelligence (AI) has referred to the technological talent in Spain. In this sense, he has transferred the relevance of funds such as the Next Tech Fundwhich promotes entrepreneurship and the scalability of projects in new digitization technologies.

As he explained, this type of initiative is intended to boost the recovery and transformation of the Spanish productive model, with the aim of achieving higher levels of competitiveness and capacity to generate employment. Thanks to this, Spain “is a place where you can live well and work well”, he concluded.