From Ibertex to AI: 40 years of digital evolution

Do you remember when getting online was a privilege reserved for a few? The journey from Ibertex to artificial intelligence sums up four decades of unprecedented technological transformation in Spain. This story is not just technical nostalgia: it is the best lens for understanding how we got here and where we are going. In this article I take a tour of the milestones that have shaped our country’s digital evolution, from the teleservices of the 1980s to the generative AI of 2026.

From Ibertex to AI: the origins of teleservices

Ibertex was Telefónica España’s videotex service, launched in 1986 as the equivalent of the French Minitel. It worked over the telephone line and allowed users to access information, make banking enquiries, book tickets and send messages. Millions of Spaniards had their first experience of digital interaction even before the internet reached the general public.

A pioneering technology

In addition, Ibertex was a pioneering technology that anticipated many of the services we take for granted today. Although its speed was ridiculous by current standards (1,200 baud), its cultural impact was enormous: for the first time, the terminal was not just a receiver of information but a tool for interaction. The journey from Ibertex to AI begins here, with the idea that technology can connect people and services dynamically.

From Ibertex to AI: the internet revolution

The arrival of the internet in the 1990s marked the point of no return. The HTTP protocol, the first browsers and the democratisation of the modem radically transformed the landscape Ibertex had sketched out.

The modem era and the static web

For this reason, the generation that lived through the transition perfectly remembers the sound of the modem connecting to Infovía and, later, to the first private ISPs. In addition, the static web of the early years quickly evolved towards the dynamic web, with forums, chats and the first e-commerce services. The dot-com bubble of 2000 accelerated both investment and the crash, but it consolidated the internet as essential infrastructure.

Web 2.0

On the other hand, the next big transformation came with Web 2.0: blogs, social media, wikis and collaborative platforms. The user went from being a passive consumer to becoming a producer of content. Because of this, the journey from Ibertex to AI takes a fundamental turn: it is no longer enough for technology to make information available, it has to allow it to be created and shared.

From Ibertex to AI: the mobile and cloud era

Without doubt, the next big wave was the combination of the smartphone and cloud computing. The launch of the iPhone in 2007 and the expansion of cloud services such as AWS redefined the rules of the game.

The smartphone as a personal computer

The smartphone quickly became the most personal and most used device in the world. Apps such as WhatsApp, Google Maps and Instagram changed deep social habits in just a few years. Technology went from being something we used occasionally to becoming an inseparable part of our daily lives.

Cloud and scalability

Cloud computing allowed startups and large companies to scale services to billions of users without needing their own infrastructure. According to Gartner, global spending on cloud services has grown uninterruptedly for more than a decade. This massive computing capacity is one of the pillars on which the modern AI revolution would be built.

From Ibertex to AI: the leap to generative AI

Finally, the eruption of generative artificial intelligence in 2022, with the mass launch of ChatGPT, has marked a new turning point. The journey from Ibertex to AI culminates —for now— in systems capable of holding conversations, writing complex texts, generating code and creating images.

From data to reasoning

In this context, today’s AI does not just process information: it interprets, synthesises and generates it. We are facing the most transformative technology we have seen since the arrival of the internet. In addition, its adoption is orders of magnitude faster: ChatGPT reached 100 million users in two months, a milestone that would have taken Ibertex decades.

Regulatory implications

This speed poses unprecedented challenges. For this reason, the European Union has approved the EU AI Act, the world’s first regulation specifically about artificial intelligence. Technology can no longer be developed in a regulatory vacuum: the ethical, social and legal implications demand a global governance framework.

From Ibertex to AI: lessons from forty years

The journey from Ibertex to AI leaves us several fundamental lessons worth remembering before tackling the next technological wave.

The cycles are accelerating

Each technological cycle is shorter than the last. From Ibertex to the internet took about 10 years, from the internet to mobile about 15, from mobile to cloud about 10, and from there to generative AI barely 15. Adapting to change is no longer a competitive advantage: it is a condition of survival.

Technology amplifies, it does not replace (yet)

In addition, every technological revolution promised to replace human capacities, but what it did was amplify them. According to an analysis by the World Bank, technology has historically created more jobs than it has eliminated, although the challenge of reskilling has become permanent. The question is not “will AI replace me?” but “how am I going to collaborate with it?”.

Regulation arrives late, but it arrives

Technology regulation always lags behind innovation, but it eventually catches up. Organisations that build compliance in by design are better prepared to navigate regulatory changes without trauma.

In conclusion, the story of the journey from Ibertex to AI is the story of how technology has transformed what it means to work, communicate and think. Looking back gives us the perspective to anticipate the next step. And that step, whatever it is, will arrive sooner than we imagine.

To continue the reflection: technological evolution and the human factor and the new role of AI.

If you are interested in the challenge of modernising legacy systems, read the practical guide to modernising COBOL with AI and the systems administration trends in 2026.