Spain outlines middle-power AI alliance proposal in Barcelona

Spain's Digital Transformation and Civil Service Minister Óscar López said in Barcelona that Spain is proposing an international alliance of middle powers to build a "third way" in technology focused on trustworthy, ethical and safe artificial intelligence. López made the remarks at the first International Digital Rights Meeting and named Canada, India, Brazil and Mexico as examples of the countries that could take part.

López said the issue is political as well as technical and framed technology governance as a matter of sovereignty and digital rights. In a conversation with Oxford University philosopher Carissa Véliz, López warned that without a regulatory counterweight, power could concentrate in the hands of a small number of technology executives, and he said the global south could become a repository serving five large corporations if governments do not act.

Spain linked the proposal to domestic digital policy measures. López said Spain is advancing the Digital Rights Charter, the Digital Rights Observatory and the inclusion of a ban on sexual deepfakes in the European Union's AI regulation. He also said the government has allocated more than €30 billion to projects related to chips, semiconductors, supercomputing and language models, while also taking public stakes in strategic technology SMEs and introducing new rules for data centre construction focused on sustainability and limiting speculation.

Spain also highlighted quantum computing as part of its technology strategy. López pointed to the Spanish Quantum Technologies Strategy 2025-2030 and said Spain has invested in companies including Nu Quantum and Multiverse Computing to support solutions for complex problems in healthcare, energy and finance.