16 September 2026

AI news of the week: scams disguised as AI tools, Kit Digital now pays for AI and what you have to label

Three things from these past days that do change something in your day-to-day. One to protect yourself, one that may be money, and one that has been an obligation since August.

Scams no longer imitate the bank: they imitate the AI tools you use

Between January and April this year, more than 33,300 attacks against small and medium-sized businesses were counted that posed as well-known AI tools: almost five times more than last year. The bait is usually the same — an installer, a "free" or "pro" version, a sponsored link — and what gets downloaded is not the tool.

How does this affect me?

As a person: if you search for the name of an AI tool and click the first result, it may be an ad bought by someone who wants to deceive you. Type the official domain by hand.

If you run a business or are self-employed: the practical rule is that nobody on the team installs new tools on their own. There is no need to ban AI — that does not work and pushes people to do it in secret — but you do need to say which tools are approved and who to ask for permission. And if someone has already downloaded something odd, change the passwords from a different computer, not from that one.

Kit Digital now includes AI in its catalogue (but there is no open call right now)

Spain's Kit Digital programme has for the first time added artificial intelligence categories: customer management with AI, business analytics with AI and process management with AI. The amounts go by headcount bands: up to €2,000 for the self-employed and companies with 0 to 2 employees, €6,000 for 3 to 9 and €12,000 for 10 to 49, with new vouchers of €25,000 and €29,000 for medium-sized companies.

How does this affect me?

If you run a business or are self-employed: right now there is no open deadline, so there is no need to rush. What is worth doing is arriving with the homework done: having decided which process you want to automate and what data you have. These grants are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis and run out, as happened with the ACCIÓ AI voucher this summer. And one thing needs saying clearly: nobody can "reserve" a grant for you in exchange for money. If you are offered that, it is a scam.

Since August, if a chatbot serves your customers, you have to say so

Article 50 of the AI Act has applied since 2 August 2026. It requires people to be told when they are interacting with an AI system, and artificially generated or manipulated content — such as images or videos that look real — to be marked.

How does this affect me?

As a person: when an "adviser" writes to you who replies too fast and too well, you have the right to know whether it is a person or not.

If you run a business or are self-employed: if you have a chatbot on your website or WhatsApp, a visible sentence at the start of the conversation is enough. If you post AI-made images or videos that could pass for real, they must be identified. But beware the fear-mongering: some are already selling services by waving fines of millions of euros. Those figures are the regulation's ceiling for serious cases and, above all, for those who develop the systems. What is asked of a small business using a chatbot is to say so. If you want to understand what really binds you and what does not, I explain it in the AI Act guide for small businesses, and the Article 4 training part is covered in the AlfabetIA material.

Sources

The 2026 SMB threat report with the count of attacks impersonating AI tools (in Spanish); the Spanish Ministry of Economy's note on Kit Digital adding AI tools to the catalogue; and the transparency obligations of Article 50, applicable since 2 August 2026.