Strategic collaboration will strengthen
Spain's open and ethical AI
initiatives to stimulate economic and technical efforts
MADRID, April 5,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The President of the Government,
Pedro Sánchez, and the Senior Vice President of
IBM (NYSE: IBM) and
Director of IBM Research, Darío Gil, met this
afternoon at the Moncloa Complex, where they
celebrated the new agreement reached between the Executive and IBM
that will allow the development of foundational models for
Artificial Intelligence, native in Spanish and co-official
languages. During the meeting, which was also attended by the
Minister for Digital Transformation and the Civil Service,
José Luis Escrivá; the director of the Office of
Economic Affairs of the Presidency of the Government, Manuel de la Rocha, and the
president of IBM Spain, Portugal,
Greece and Israel, Horacio
Morell, they shared challenges and initiatives that
are opening up in the field of artificial intelligence and
supercomputing.
Afterwards, the Government of Spain, through its Ministry for Digital
Transformation, the Civil Service, and IBM today signed a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote their collaboration in
the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and AI supercomputing,
advance the development and practical deployment of open, ethical
and responsible generative AI in Spain, and sharing the vision to create a
leading suite of foundation models including both large language
models (LLMs) and small language models (SLMs), proficient in the
Spanish language and co-official languages.
During the meeting at La Moncloa, the President stressed that
agreements such as this one demonstrate Spain's commitment to accelerate the ethical
and responsible use of AI, particularly in the public sector, with
great impact on productivity for many sectors of the economy and on
Europe's strategic autonomy.
The document was signed today in Madrid by Darío Gil, Senior Vice President and
Director of IBM Research, and José Luis Escrivá, Minister for
Digital Transformation and Civil Service of the Government of
Spain. Tapping into IBM's
open-source AI framework, communities will be able to shape and
contribute to the Spanish LLM, that will also include co-official
languages (Catalan, Basque, Galician and Valencian) increasing
innovation, transparency and safety while ensuring a more
cost-efficient yet technologically competitive position in the
market. The collaboration also reflects the intention to develop
AI-enhanced techniques to accelerate the discovery, development,
and validation of new materials to increase the sustainability of
the semiconductors value chain.
"AI positions us at the threshold of a new industrial
revolution, with a very significant potential impact in terms of
productivity gains for a large number of economic sectors and in
providing better public services to our citizens," said the
minister José Luis Escrivá. "The Government of Spain is promoting a useful and ethical
development of the opportunities offered by this technology. IBM,
with its experience, knowledge, and resources, is an excellent
partner to accompany us in our vision."
"IBM shares this bold vision to accelerate the Government of
Spain's AI strategy and to be the
national AI partner for Spain,"
said Darío Gil, IBM SVP and Director of IBM Research. "We will
leverage IBM's deep investments across the entire AI stack, from
compute to models, we will enable an open community to drive the
full potential of AI technologies. Together, we will work to
foster the responsible use of AI to drive sustainable growth in
Spain, and all Spanish speaking
countries worldwide."
Spanish is the second leading spoken language in the world (6.2%
of the world's population1). One of the priority areas
under this MoU is to collaborate in a leading suite of foundation
models, including both large language models (LLMs) and small
language models (SLMs), proficient in the Spanish language and
co-official languages. Creating models that are entirely designed
in Spanish will enhance AI sustainability by reducing biases and
providing competitive alternatives for the Spanish industry. These
models will be refined using advanced tuning and alignment
techniques, encompassing innovative methods that facilitate direct
community enhancements and foster an ecosystem of AI creators and
builders, utilizing assets developed through this
collaboration.
Recent advances in generative AI and AI supercomputing hold
tremendous promise for governments and economies who can realize
the productivity gains enabled by these technologies. With this
collaboration, the Government of Spain is taking decisive action to seize this
opportunity with timely and transformative commitments to invest in
the AI revolution.
The coordination within the government institutions in this
field will facilitate both widespread use of AI across national,
regional, and local economies, as well as the timely and sufficient
resources needed to build competitive advantages within a rapidly
evolving AI-driven commercial landscape. This includes investment
in human capital (upskilling and tooling) and community-driven
adoption of AI to ensure that the productivity benefits and
economic gains can positively impact across the economy of
Spain, from small-medium sized
businesses (SMBs) to large enterprises and the public sector.
Taking this into account, the Memorandum of Understanding is
based on five principles;
- Promote the development of a suite of foundation models,
including both large language models (LLMs) and small language
models (SLMs), proficient in the Spanish language and co-official
languages.
- Collaborate on the research and development of a full stack
generative AI platform, including software built on open-source
frameworks and tools as well as infrastructure enabling hardware
diversity.
- Promote national and regional AI strategies through a
cooperative approach that promotes a responsible use of the
foundation models and the associated generative AI platform. This
collaborative effort aims to benefit the public sector
and SMEs throughout Spain.
- Foster an ecosystem of AI creators and builders, utilizing
assets developed through this collaboration, to establish
Spain as a global leader in
AI.
- Develop AI-enhanced techniques to accelerate the discovery,
development, and validation of new materials to advance the
sustainability of the semiconductor industry value
chain.
An additional priority described under this memorandum is to
collaborate on the research and development of AI technology for
supercomputing applications.
About IBM
IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid
cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more
than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data,
streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the
competitive edge in their industries. More than 4,000 government
and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as
financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM's
hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital
transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM's
breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing,
industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and
flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM's
long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility,
inclusivity and service. Visit www.ibm.com for more
information.
Media Contacts:
Brittany Forgione
Director, Marketing & Communications
IBM Research
Brittany.Forgione@ibm.com
Miguel Giménez de Castro
Communications Leader
IBM Spain, Portugal Greece & Israel
Miguel.gimenezdc@ibm.com
References:
1
https://www.exteriores.gob.es/en/Comunicacion/Noticias/Paginas/Noticias/20231030_MINISTERIO06.aspx
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SOURCE IBM