36% of Spanish companies now use AI: what it means for you

TL;DR

• AI adoption in Spain: 36% annual growth; Madrid/Catalonia >20%, Andalusia 16.8%
• Most of it is tool adoption (ChatGPT, Copilot), not real transformation
• AI is a multiplier: if you know what you’re doing, it makes you faster; if not, you fail faster
• Opportunity: learn the tools, understand their limits, document what works

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The headline: AI usage in Spanish companies went from 12.4% in 2024 to 36% annual growth in 2025. Madrid and Catalonia lead with over 20% adoption. Andalusia is at 16.8%.

I work remotely for a company in Seville. I use AI every day. And I have some thoughts on what these numbers mean.

Actual adoption vs. declared adoption

When a company says it “uses AI,” it can mean many things:

• Someone has ChatGPT Plus
• There’s a chatbot on the website
• They use Copilot in Office
• They have ML models in production

Not the same thing. The 36% growth sounds impressive, but most of it is tool adoption, not real transformation.

What I see in practice

In my work with data, AI has changed concrete things:

What works: code generation, documentation, DAX debugging, explaining technical concepts, exploratory data analysis, automating repetitive tasks.

What doesn’t work (yet): replacing human judgment about what data matters, understanding business context without explanation, catching errors that require domain knowledge.

AI is a multiplier. If you know what you’re doing, it makes you faster. If you don’t, it helps you fail faster.

The Madrid/Catalonia vs. rest gap

The 20%+ in Madrid and Catalonia vs. 16.8% in Andalusia reflects something real: the concentration of tech companies and startups.

But remote work is changing this. You can work from Seville for a company that’s aggressively adopting AI. Physical location matters less than it did 5 years ago.

What does matter is company culture. If your company sees AI as a threat instead of a tool, it doesn’t matter if you’re in Madrid or a small town in Jaén.

The bubble concern

McKinsey talks about investments of nearly $7 trillion in data centers by 2030. Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon spending tens of billions.

Is it a bubble? Possibly part of it is. But the underlying technology is real. What’s inflated are short-term ROI expectations, not the tool’s usefulness.

For those working with data, the question isn’t “will the bubble burst?” but “how do I take advantage while it lasts?”

What you should do

If you work with data in Spain:

Learn to use the tools: Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, whatever. Not to replace your work but to augment it. The learning curve is short and the benefit is immediate.

Understand the limitations: AI hallucinates, has no context about your business, and needs supervision. Don’t automate without reviewing.

Document how you use it: both for yourself and your company. The value is in knowing what works and what doesn’t in your specific context.

Don’t be afraid: AI layoffs are real but concentrated in repetitive, well-defined tasks. If your job requires judgment, context, and human relationships, you have time.

Summary

Spain is adopting AI faster than it seems, but more superficially than the numbers suggest. Most of it is tools, not transformation.

For those working with data, it’s an opportunity: the tools are available, domain knowledge is still valuable, and demand for people who can combine both will grow.

Andalusia’s 16.8% will be 30% in two years. The question is whether you’ll be among those who leverage it or those who suffer from it.

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