From Idea to Prototype: AI, Regulation & Scale
At the Hackathon Soluciones WhatsApp en Smart Cities, AImpacto Rotaract Madrid delivered a hands-on workshop on AI regulation and compliance in the public sector context. The session, led by Anna Shatalova (Compliance Specialist and Founder of AImpacto) and Fernando Rangel (AI Specialist and Founder of Kuentia), addressed a question often overlooked in early-stage innovation: Can your AI prototype comply with European regulation from day one? Rather than discussing regulation in abstract terms, the workshop examined a practical use case — a conversational WhatsApp assistant designed to streamline access to municipal cultural centers in Madrid. Participants explored how such a system could be architected technically, while simultaneously evaluating its regulatory implications under the EU AI Act and the Product Liability Directive.
A key takeaway was that the EU AI Act regulates impact, not technology per se. Not all AI systems are high-risk — but every AI system must be assessed carefully. Transparency, traceability, and documentation are not bureaucratic afterthoughts; they are structural requirements for scalability.
At AImpacto, we believe that building civic technology requires more than technical creativity. It demands regulatory literacy, ethical awareness, and institutional responsibility. This workshop reflected our commitment to equipping innovators with the analytical tools needed to navigate Europe’s evolving AI governance landscape.