The Secretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence, Carme Artigas, will leave her position this Friday. She said this today at an event organized by the newspaper Expansion, in which she has said that she will maintain her newly launched role as co-chair of an international council of United Nations experts in charge of preparing a governance mechanism for artificial intelligence. She has also expressed her intention to return to private business, although without revealing her destiny.
Artigas leaves his position after successfully completing one of the purposes of the still current Spanish Presidency of the EU: achieving the political agreement that gives the green light to the long-awaited European Directive on Artificial Intelligence. The Catalan woman has been in charge of directing 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 trilogues, ended with a text signed by the three parties after 36 hours of intense negotiations.
According to sources close to the Secretary of State, the Catalan woman communicated her decision to the Minister of Digital Transformation, José Luis Escrivá, who had previously reaffirmed Artigas in the position. The last reform of the Executive placed Escrivá as direct boss of Artigas, who until then reported to the second vice president and Minister of Economy and Digital Transition, Nadia Calviño.
Born in Vilassar de Mar (Barcelona) 55 years ago, Artigas has been part of the Government structure since President Pedro Sánchez arrived at La Moncloa. In January 2020, she was named head of the first Secretary of State in the history of Spain to incorporate the term artificial intelligence (AI) in its name. Quite a declaration of intentions from Sánchez, who during these years has shown personal interest in this technology.
Before jumping into the public sector, Artigas co-founded the advanced data analytics consultancy Synergic Partners, which Telefónica acquired in 2015. He came from working at Ericsson and the Generalitat, where he directed the semi-public company that manages the Catalan digital bureaucracy. His time at this agency made headlines in the local media when he awarded a contract of 320,000 euros to a company run by Jaume Agut, Artigas' husband and later co-founder of Synergic Partners.
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