Artificial intelligence (AI) needs regulation to prevent its possible misuse, but without hindering its development. This is the position defended by Alberto Nadal, Deputy Secretary of Economy and Sustainable Development of the PP, in conversation with DEMÓCRATA, when asked about the reluctance of Donald Trump to advance in new regulations on this technology.
“Everything needs its control to ensure that ethics are fulfilled, the issue is that only for that, not for more,” Nadal asserts. The popular leader thus bets on establishing limits in the face of certain risks derived from AI, but avoiding that the rules hinder its development and use.
Nadal compares the arrival of AI with other major technological evolutions. “Like all technological change, some things need to be organized to prevent misuse, but we must do everything possible for that technological change to penetrate and be positive,” he explains.
To illustrate this, the Deputy Secretary of Economy of the PP refers to the invention of explosives: “The day they were invented, mining or construction or public works improved a lot.” But, at the same time, “terrorists who planted bombs also appeared.” With this example, he argues that the goal should be to take advantage of the possibilities of a new technology and regulate its possible misuses.
A regulation that goes beyond Spain
In statements to this medium, Nadal also considers that the response to AI should not be limited to the national level: “What is needed is not a specific Spanish regulation, it is an international consensus, self-regulation, and an international regulation that serves.”
The PP leader recalls that a large part of the development of this technology occurs outside of Spain and Europe. In this sense, he bets on international agreements on the limits of this technology. Nadal refers to the precedent of genetic engineering, which also opened debates about how far one could go and forced, as he explains, to establish international processes.
“What must be guaranteed is that AI will have the ethical and legal limits necessary for the impact to be positive on economic growth, on the improvement of citizens’ lives, on the reduction of administrative costs, and on the development, for example, of research,” he argues, amid the controversy over the resignations of executives and researchers from various AI companies due to their doubts about the risks of this technology and the red lines for its development.
Among the risks, Nadal points out both the possible misuse and the concentration of capabilities in few hands. The deputy secretary of the PP talks about the “power that certain entities can accumulate if they have ways of working with AI that others do not know about or that can misuse it.”
“Science fiction”
Nadal also rejects fiscal measures in the face of a potential destruction of jobs due to AI. He refers specifically to the proposals to tax robots that have been discussed, although without going into too much detail, from Más Madrid. “For now, it seems to me that this is science fiction and what we need to see is how things evolve,” he asserts.
His approach is that technological development has historically ended up generating productivity and income and replacing certain tasks. The popular gives the Industrial Revolution as an example and argues that it allowed many physical jobs to be abandoned to dedicate oneself to other activities.
Data centers and electrical grid
Nadal also rejects addressing the expansion of AI solely from its possible negative effects. “AI, which the left always sees with suspicion, as if jobs are going to be lost, that it will sour people’s lives, that large multinationals will take away your privacy… how it should be seen is as one of the technological changes that have occurred in the world in the last 200 years,” he argues. In his view, “every time there has been a change, adaptation is needed, but the final result has always been positive.”
In Spain, one of those adaptation needs is already on the table with the growth of data centers and their demand for electricity. Nadal believes that, given the capacity of the grid, “we have no choice but to organize access a bit, especially for data centers to our electrical system, because not all of them can fit at once and at the same time.” The popular leader accompanies this reflection with a criticism of the Executive: “But one thing is to organize it and another thing is what this Government is doing, which is to expel”.
The program that is coming
With the upcoming general elections less than a year away, the parties are starting to configure the programs with which they will compete at the polls.
Asked whether artificial intelligence will have specific measures in his party’s electoral offer, Nadal did not advance any concrete proposal.
“The PP is going to make a magnificent electoral offer that will touch on all the aspects that concern Spaniards,” he replied without wanting to go into more details.
The PP’s recipe
Beyond regulation, Nadal points out three areas in which Spain should take advantage of AI. The first is Administration and public services, from the granting of licenses and the control of subsidies to justice, healthcare, or education. The goal, he explains, is that “all administrative processes are much faster and that the administration does not ask you for the same information 20 times.”
The second is its incorporation into the productive fabric: “Large companies are already doing this, but small and medium-sized enterprises are lagging behind,” he warns. For the PP, it is “essential” that SMEs can use AI to increase productivity, better manage information, reduce costs, and improve their products and services.
Finally, Nadal bets on Spain also participating in its development: “We also need to participate in the process of creating AI. There is a lot of value there and there are many Spanish professionals who have the capacity for it.”
