Spain Just Created the First European AI Supervision Agency

By Pedro Solimano

Spain has created the Spanish Agency for the Supervision of Artificial Intelligence (AESIA). The agency, announced in a royal decree on Tuesday, will be the first AI regulatory body of its kind in the European Union.

The body, which will work to develop an “inclusive, sustainable and citizen-centered” AI, is in line with the country’s National Strategy on Artificial Intelligence.

According to yesterday’s press release, translated by Decrypt, creating the new body is in line with the country’s National Strategy on Artificial intelligence (ENIA), and their Digital Agenda 2026.

The strategy comes with a variety of objectives, which includes a framework to develop an “inclusive, sustainable and citizen-centered” AI.

Aiming to position Spain as a pioneer in artificial intelligence, the AESIA is part of their Recovery, Transformation and Resiliency Plan that was set in motion in June 2021.

As per the announcement, creating this new governmental body makes Spain the first European country to form an agency dedicated to AI. It is in anticipation of the European Union’s working group that is focused on setting a unified standard for regulation regarding artificial intelligence.

The EU's parliament approved a new draft law of the Artificial Intelligence Act in mid June.

AI seems to be on an inexorable path to impact many domains within society, mainly in the job market.

While some consider jobs to be at risk, others reckon AI will simply make workforces re-skill. Social media service LinkedIn was the latest to claim generative AI will reshape the job market.

There have been plenty of skeptics, but it seems the Spanish government is paying attention.

“The advancement of the technology [AI] at a global scale is unquestionable,” read Spain’s announcement yesterday..

Spain has been making waves beyond its AI strategy, nonetheless, with a renowned tokenization firm launching its services in the country late last month. The nation has also been opening its doors to some crypto companies to begin operations, greenlighting Crypto.com in June.

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