The Secretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence, Carme Artigas, will resign from her position this Friday. She made this announcement today at an event organized by the newspaper Expansión, where she said that she would maintain her newly established role as co-president of a United Nations international expert council in charge of preparing a governance mechanism for artificial intelligence be. He has also expressed his intention to return to the private sector, although without revealing his goal.
Artigas leaves office after successfully fulfilling one of the objectives of the ongoing Spanish EU Council Presidency: reaching the political agreement that gives the green light to the long-awaited European directive on artificial intelligence. The Catalan was responsible for leading the last round of negotiations between representatives of the European Parliament, the Commission and the Council (the Member States). The meeting, known in European jargon as a trilogue, ended with a text signed by the three parties after 36 hours of intensive negotiations.
According to sources close to the Foreign Minister, the Catalan communicated her decision to the Minister of Digital Transformation, José Luis Escrivá, who had previously confirmed Artigas in this position. The last reform of the executive branch made Escrivá the direct boss of Artigas, who until then had reported to the second vice president and minister of economy and digital transformation, Nadia Calviño.
Artigas was born 55 years ago in Vilassar de Mar (Barcelona) and has been part of the government structure since the arrival of President Pedro Sánchez in La Moncloa. In January 2020, she was appointed the first Secretary of State in the history of Spain to include the term artificial intelligence (AI) in her name. Quite a declaration of intent from Sánchez, who has shown personal interest in this technology in these years.
Before moving to the public sector, Artigas co-founded the advanced data analytics consultancy Synergic Partners, which Telefónica acquired in 2015. He came from Ericsson and the Generalitat, where he led the parastatal that manages the Catalan digital bureaucracy. His time at this agency made headlines in the local media when he awarded a €320,000 contract to a company run by Jaume Agut, Artigas' husband and later co-founder of Synergic Partners.
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