Spain | Artificial Intelligence: advances & challenges

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has positioned itself as a key element for development. That is why the NGEU has endowed Spain with 500 million euros. This study characterizes the use of AI in Spanish companies, analyzing the involvement of their workers, the type of technology used and the purpose of its use.

Key points

• Key points:
• Within the European Union, Spain is at the EU-27 average of AI adoption, with 8% of its companies (non-financial with more than ten employees) using this technology. At the regional level there is high heterogeneity, and while the digitization of Spanish consumers is what might be expected given the country's income level, the digitization process of companies is lagging behind.
• The percentage of companies using AI is related to greater digitization of the country or region in question, but not to per capita income levels, neither for EU countries nor for the ACs.
• Of the set of Spanish companies that considered but ended up not using AI, 71% point out that the main reason was lack of knowledge or capabilities within the company, a reason that is repeated in the EU countries.
• The heterogeneity in the use of AI across regions is concentrated in service sector companies, a sector that encompasses a wide range of products, both high and low value-added.
• Unlike what is happening in other areas of the Digital Agenda, such as the digital kit, in AI more progress is being made in the ethical and regulatory framework, but very little yet in the implementation of concrete programs. One of the reasons lies in the difficulties in the proper monitoring and selection of projects.

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