The team of the project to implement the “Digital Bill of Rights in the specific field 6 - Rights in new digital environments” has analyzed the current legal status of artificial intelligence (AI), neuro-rights, and the metaverse during the last 2 years. It has also brought together groups of experts, implemented training programmes, conducted a comprehensive ethical and legal impact study, and proposed a series of White Papers for the responsible development of each of these technologies, among other measures, to guarantee citizens' rights in the digital environment.

Privacy, data protection and bias, and algorithmic discrimination are topics that have given rise to a number of challenges and concerns related to the rights of individuals linked to the digital environment and have begun to be debated in various contexts.

This is how the rapidly evolving technological capabilities, AI, neurotechnology and the metaverse relate to these issues, as they are bringing about disruptive transformations and their future course is uncertain.

The Carlos III University of Madrid coordinates the initiative at the field 6, with the participation of the University of Valencia, the University of Alicante, the Autonomous University of Madrid, the Pompeu Fabra University, the University of Santiago de Compostela, the Observatory on the Social and Ethical Impact of AI, the General Council of Spanish Lawyers, the COTEC Foundation, the Carlos III Institute of Health and the Bar Association of Valencia.

In order to have a complete overview of these issues, the initiative has mapped the state of the art related to AI, neurotechnology and the metaverse, in addition to studying their legal situation in Spain and the European Union.

It has also sought input from experts and stakeholders in the area of law and ethics in the development and exploitation of these technologies, has promoted debate on legislative and non-legislative proposals to develop a Digital Bill of Rights and set up a network made up of professional experts from various fields, such as computing, sociology, psychology, law and ethics, among others.

This project is part of the new Digital Spain Strategy 2026, which aims to promote the implementation of the Digital Bill of Rights and the creation of a Digital Rights Observation Space, and is funded by Red.es, an entity attached to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, through the Spanish Government's Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.

Funded by the European Union - NextGenerationEU. Views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them.