Ibero-American countries have decided this Tuesday in Madrid to set in motion the Ibero-American Alliance for Artificial Intelligence, a regional cooperation framework aimed at strengthening their digital and cultural sovereignty through access to quality data, the promotion of models tailored to their languages, and collaboration in computing capabilities.
The understanding, reached at the first Ibero-American Ministerial Meeting on Digital Transformation and AI, will be submitted for approval to the XXX Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government, scheduled for November 4 and 5 in the Spanish capital, according to what the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Function has noted.
Participation will be voluntary for the States of the Ibero-American Conference and will require active involvement and a public contribution, either financial or in kind, depending on the reality of each country, all of this under a shared governance model.
One of the pillars of the alliance will be the creation of an Ibero-American Data Space to promote artificial intelligence systems of public interest that address the region’s priorities, languages, cultural contexts, and social realities. It will not be set up as a single database, but as a federated space where each State will define what information it shares and under what conditions.
Models in Spanish, Portuguese and Indigenous Languages
The alliance will also foster cooperation in language models and AI systems in order to strengthen the presence of Spanish, Portuguese, other official languages, and Indigenous languages in solutions aimed at public administrations, citizens, universities, research centers, and the business community.
To this end, the countries will develop a common technological base that facilitates national, linguistic, and sectoral adaptations. Existing initiatives already underway will be leveraged, such as the Alia family of models, in Spanish and other official languages; the Portuguese project Amalia; Latam GPT, promoted by Chile, and SoberanIA, driven by Brazil.
The third line of work will be aimed at facilitating access to computing capabilities to carry forward artificial intelligence projects. The goal is to organize existing resources, link supply and demand, and establish collaboration formulas, without the need to build a new regional infrastructure.
Rights and Freedoms in Digital Environments
The launch of the alliance is framed by the commitments of the Madrid Declaration, signed during the ministerial meeting, in which the countries commit to "placing people at the center" and to ensuring that the rights and freedoms recognized in the analog world are respected equally in digital environments.
The text includes the promise to incorporate AI in a "sustainable and responsible" manner, to strengthen cybersecurity, and to promote digital spaces appropriate to each stage of life and free of bias. It also emphasizes that respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms is a complementary condition to innovation to generate trust and expand the economic and social benefits of this technology.
An initiative for more than 700 million people
"Ibero-America is betting today on a sovereign, ethical, open and trustworthy AI. With the Madrid Declaration and the Alliance, we propose a people-centered AI that respects human rights, is secure, responsible and inclusive," the minister for Digital Transformation and the Public Service, Óscar López, has stated, who has emphasized that the proposal is aimed at the more than 700 million people who live in the region.
The Ibero-American secretary general, Andrés Allamand, has argued in favor of consolidating a sovereign position that allows decisions to be made about technologies "without impositions," understanding how they work, adapting them to one’s own needs, and participating in the definition of the rules that will guide their evolution.
Data protection standards and digital governance
At the meeting, the countries also endorsed the Ibero-American Standards for Data Protection and for Identification and Interoperability in Digital Government Services, developed by the Ibero-American Network for Data Protection and the Latin American Center for Development Administration (CLAD).
These documents act as non-binding reference frameworks that provide guidance for their application in accordance with the legal frameworks and priorities of each country. The agreements are incorporated into the development work of the Ibero-American Charter of Principles and Rights in Digital Environments, which the ministerial meeting has decided to continue promoting.