Spanish firms see AI as crucial for growth, but adoption lags far behind ambition

Spanish business leaders are convinced that artificial intelligence will be essential to their survival over the next three years. More than half of them—55 percent, according to a KPMG study of 2,100 executives—believe the technology is non-negotiable for hitting growth targets and staying competitive. Yet when you look at what's actually happening on the ground, the picture is starkly different. Only 8 percent of Spanish companies have genuinely woven AI into their daily operations. The gap between what executives say they need and what they're actually doing is enormous.

The promise of AI is real enough. Companies that have begun using these tools report that they can now automate the kind of work that once consumed hours—writing reports, summarizing documents, analyzing data. Customer service becomes more personalized. Employees get information faster and in better order. The technology can spot patterns in how people buy things, manage inventory more efficiently, and free up workers to focus on tasks that require judgment rather than repetition. Eva García, who leads data analysis and AI work at KPMG's Spanish office, acknowledges all this. But she also notes something crucial: the quality of what these systems produce hasn't matured enough yet to be fully reliable.

Two obstacles are keeping Spanish firms from moving faster. The first is practical: there simply aren't enough people with the technical skills to teach these tools to the rest of the workforce. The second is psychological. Fifty-seven percent of Spanish business leaders surveyed say their progress has stalled because they don't understand how AI makes its decisions. They worry about what happens to their internal data once it enters these systems. They fear the technology might encode bias—racial, gender-based, or otherwise—into decisions that affect real people. And they're concerned about privacy. These aren't abstract worries. They're the reason some major Spanish companies have taken drastic steps. Redeia, the electricity grid operator, banned ChatGPT entirely after identifying risks to information security. Telefónica allows it only through company-controlled accounts. BBVA prohibits it outright, though employees can request access case by case.

The ethical dimension of this technology is forcing companies and regulators to think harder about what they're willing to accept. Noemí Brito, who oversees legal operations at KPMG, argues that legal teams need to work alongside business, innovation, and security departments to build policies that are responsible—not just legally sound, but ethically defensible. The European Union has begun to take this seriously. Less than a week before this reporting, the EU released the first official draft of comprehensive AI regulation. The rules, which will take effect in late 2026, aim to restrict the most dangerous applications: biometric categorization systems that sort people by political belief, religion, race, or sexual orientation; mass facial recognition databases; emotion detection in the workplace. For generative AI systems like ChatGPT, the regulation will require that companies disclose when content is AI-generated and respect copyright.

But AI is not the only technology reshaping Spanish business. Big data—the collection and analysis of massive datasets to inform decisions—is gaining ground. Seventeen percent of companies surveyed say they've begun applying it and have seen economic benefits. Logistics and shipping firms, in particular, are discovering that data at scale has become foundational to how they operate. Software-as-a-service, or SaaS—programs accessed through the internet rather than installed on computers, typically through subscription—is also spreading. Sixty-one percent of Spanish companies report improved profits after adopting it, and two-thirds believe the opportunities outweigh the risks. KPMG's conclusion is blunt: companies need to learn how to manage these resources efficiently, especially when budgets are tight. Digital transformation only matters if it makes the business more profitable.