The Barcelona City Council will have a municipal artificial intelligence (AI) strategy in place before the summer. The announcement was made by Barcelona’s mayor, Jaume Collboni, during his participation in Talent Arena, an event that brings together developers, leading tech companies, and educational institutions to foster learning and networking in the digital sector.

The municipal strategy currently under development aims to ensure an AI model that enhances the efficiency of public administration and city management. The mayor emphasized that this potential must always be harnessed “while guaranteeing people’s rights and freedoms and prioritizing technological humanism, which is the identity Barcelona wants to establish worldwide.”

The government action plan being developed will include specific measures, such as AI training for both municipal staff and the general public. In this regard, the City Council is already collaborating with Microsoft on a pioneering project that will enable 500 municipal employees to integrate AI tools into their daily work, with the goal of boosting productivity and improving public services.

The upcoming municipal strategy aims to establish a “Barcelona model” where AI adoption is intensive, innovative, sustainable, ethical, and democratically responsible. Additionally, it will ensure that public services using AI are delivered in a simple, proactive, and personalized manner, adapting to the needs of citizens, businesses, and municipal staff.

The initiative also seeks to:

• Minimize the environmental impact of AI technologies.
• Ensure effective democratic governance in AI implementation.
• Foster an innovation ecosystem within the city.
• Empower citizens to take advantage of the opportunities AI offers.