As part of the Digital Strategy for a Smart Spain 2025, in November 2017 the Secretary of State for the Information Technology Society and the Digital Agenda created a working group of experts to develop official guidelines on AI. 288 The group includes businesspeople, professors, and government officials who are reputable and well-known experts in their respective areas of knowledge.289
The findings of the working group will be published in the Libro Blanco de Inteligencia Artificial (White Book on Artificial Intelligence, WBAI), which is aimed at addressing the social, legal, and ethical implications of the use of AI and big data in the private and public sectors as well as the Spanish society in general.290
The WBAI working group was expected to have a draft completed by May 2018.291 The WBAI recommendations will be the basis for a code of ethics and a legal framework on the use of AI data in the public administration as well as a related code of good practices for companies, to be prepared by the government.292
In August 2018, the working group submitted a draft of the WBAI to the new Spanish government headed by Pedro Sanchez.293 Although the working group, created by the previous Spanish
government, has not been dissolved, the deadline for the WBAI publication is not clear, as there has been no official announcement in this regard.294
In addition, Spain signed the EU Cooperation Agreement on Artificial Intelligence on April 10, 2018.295 The agreement aims to promote Europe’s technology and industrial capacity in AI, address the challenge that AI poses to the labor market and education and training systems in the
288 Grupo de Sabios Creara Libro Blanco de Inteligencia Artificial y Big Data [Experts Group Will Create a White
Book on AI and Big Data], DIARIO PERSPECTIVA (Nov. 14, 2017), https://diarioperspectiva.com/grupo-sabios- creara-libro-blanco-la-inteligencia-artificial-big-data-espana/, archived at https://perma.cc/N9R2-AFZH.
289 Id. 290 Id. 291 Id. 292 Id.
293 El Gobierno de Sanchez Retrasa Estrategia Espanola de Inteligencia Artificial [The Government of Sanchez
Delays the Spanish Strategy on AI],EL ESPANOL (Oct. 25, 2018), https://www.elespanol.com/economia/ 20181025/gobierno-sanchez-retrasa-estrategia-espanola-inteligencia-artificial/347966537_0.html, archived at
https://perma.cc/9CBA-HMEC.
294 Id.
295 Espana Firma un Acuerdo de Cooperación en Inteligencia Artificial Junto a Otros 24 Estados de la Unión
Europea [Spain Signs a Cooperation Agreement on AI with Other 24 European Union Countries],
ESMARTCITY.ES (Apr. 11, 2018), https://www.esmartcity.es/2018/04/11/espana-acuerdo-cooperacion-inteligencia- artificial-junto-24-estados-union-europea, archived at https://perma.cc/R65K-2ALK.
Regulation of Artificial Intelligence: Europe and Central Asia
EU, and devise the appropriate AI legal and ethical framework, taking into consideration the EU fundamental rights of privacy and the protection of personal data.296
III. Autonomous Vehicles
Although Spain has not enacted any legislation or regulations on autonomous vehicles, the General Directorate of Traffic has authorized the testing of autonomous vehicles since 2015.297
IV. Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems
The government of Spain has declared that its armed forces do not have and are not planning to develop LAWS or weapons based on AI. 298 The Spanish government is not financing any research project on LAWS. It shares the concerns of other countries about the development of robotic weapons that would operate without human intervention.299 This concern is mainly based on the consequences to human rights and international humanitarian laws. The government further supports the adoption of a general international legal framework aimed at preventing an arms race with respect to LAWS.300 The Spanish government supports the issuance of the Political
Declaration and politically binding Code of Conduct that would include transparency measures to monitor this process as well as the establishment of a Committee of Experts who will be responsible of the evaluation of new developments in the technology involving these weapons.301
296 European Declaration on Cooperation in Artificial Intelligence, Apr. 10, 2018, https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/
communities/community/digitranscope-digital-transformation-and-governance-human-society/document/eu- declaration, archived at https://perma.cc/3G7K-SGZG.
297 DIRECCIÓN NACIONAL DE TRÁFICO,MINISTERIO DEL INTERIOR TRÁFICO ESTABLECE EL MARCO PARA LA
REALIZACIÓN DE PRUEBAS CON VEHÍCULOS DE CONDUCCIÓN AUTOMATIZADA EN VÍAS ABIERTAS A LA
CIRCULACIÓN,NOTA DE PRENSA [TRAFFIC ESTABLISHES THE FRAMEWORK FOR CONDUCTING TESTS OF AUTOMATED
VEHICLES ON OPEN TRACKS] (Nov. 16, 2015), http://www.dgt.es/Galerias/prensa/2015/11/NP-pruebas-vehiculos- conduccion-automatizada.pdf, archived at https://perma.cc/LDH9-27QT.
298 Las Fuerzas Armadas Españolas No Tendrán Su Propio «Robot Asesino» [The Spanish Armed Forces Will Not
Have Their Own Killer Robot], ABC (Aug. 31, 2015), https://www.abc.es/espana/20150831/abci-robots-asesinos- espana-201508301912.html, archived at https://perma.cc/AAQ7-2SJL.
299 Respuesta del Gobierno [Government Answer], Pregunta Escrita Senado [Written Question Senate] 684/77289,
June 17, 2015, http://www.senado.es/web/expedientdocblobservlet?legis=10&id=190036, archived at
https://perma.cc/Z4UU-N92H.
300 Id.
301 Convención sobre Ciertas Armas Convencionales, Grupo de Expertos Gubernamentales sobre Sistemas de Armas
Autónomas Letales, Intervención del Embajador de Espana, Julio Herraiz, Delegado ante la Conferencia de Desarme, Geneva, Apr. 9, 2018 [Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, Group of Government Experts on LAWS, Statement by the Spanish Ambassador, Julio Herraiz, Delegate to the Disarmament Conference, Apr. 9, 2018], https://www.unog.ch/80256EDD006B8954/(httpAssets)/072ED40378F79CFBC125827200575723/$file/ 2018_LAWSGeneralExchange_Spain.pdf, archived at https://perma.cc/FF6P-DPF6.
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Sweden
I. General
Sweden is a member of the European Union and therefore the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on privacy has applied directly since May 2018.302 Regulation of AI has also been viewed as a task for the entire EU to address jointly, which is why Sweden has supported a position that the European Commission should consider this.303 Sweden has also signed on to the Declaration
on Cooperation on AI as part of Digital Day in 2018.304 Despite arguing for an EU approach to AI, the Swedish government and Swedish universities as well as philanthropist are investing in AI.305 II. National Strategy
Sweden has developed a National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence.306 The goal is to become a leader in new digital opportunities.307 This means creating “the enabling conditions” for such
digital advances to aid Swedish competitiveness and welfare.308 According to the government, as presented in the National Strategy, this includes investing in research and higher education.309 The government also recommends joint projects between the private and public sectors.310 Moreover,
a number of Swedish agencies are looking to use AI to advance their missions. For example, the Swedish Bolagsverket (Swedish Companies Registration Office) wants to use AI to focus on companies that are more likely to be used for criminal activities.311
302 See EU survey in this report.
303 See Regeringskansliet, Faktapromemoria 2017/18:FPM96, Meddelande om artificiell intelligens för Europa (May
30, 2018), http://www.riksdagen.se/sv/dokument-lagar/dokument/fakta-pm-om-eu-forslag/meddelande-om- artificiell-intelligens-for-europa_H506FPM96, archived at https://perma.cc/MH7K-2GG7.
304 Press Release, European Commission, EU Member States Sign Up to Cooperate on Artificial Intelligence (Apr.
10, 2018), https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/eu-member-states-sign-cooperate-artificial- intelligence, archived at https://perma.cc/TY4B-4AJ8.
305 See Parliamentary Minutes referencing Wallenberg Investment, Riksdagens Protokoll 2017/18:47, Dec 11, 2017,
http://www.riksdagen.se/sv/dokument-lagar/dokument/protokoll/protokoll-20171847-mandagen-den-11- december_H50947, archived at https://perma.cc/2U49-VXHZ.
306 GOVERNMENT OFFICES OF SWEDEN,NATIONAL APPROACH TO ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (2018),
https://www.regeringen.se/4aa638/contentassets/a6488ccebc6f418e9ada18bae40bb71f/national-approach-to- artificial-intelligence.pdf, archived at https://perma.cc/4Q6E-VU78.
307 Id. at 1. 308 Id. at 4. 309 Id. at 6. 310 Id. at 7.
311 BOLAGSVERKET,AD212/2018SLUTRAPPORT EKOBROTTSUPPDRAG 7(Dec. 14, 2018), http://bolagsverket.se/
Regulation of Artificial Intelligence: Europe and Central Asia
As noted above, the Nordic countries have also joined together in a number of collaborative responses to AI, including together with the Baltic States.312