Speaking at Russia's Artificial Intelligence (AI) conference, AI Journey in Moscow, President Vladimir Putin announced that the country will compete in the global AI race with its BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) partners and invited scientists worldwide to join their cause.
Russia has been subject to several US sanctions, including the curb of microchips needed to run and train AI models. Despite the setbacks, Putin believes that a network of joint research into the technology would enable more AI products for BRICS markets.
Last year, Russia's leading financial services company, Sberbank, launched its own AI chatbot, GigaChat. According to Wikipedia, it had more than 2.5 million users in February 2024. Russia's largest internet services provider, Yandex, launched its own GPT alternative, YandexGPT, which powers over 1000 companies in the country.
Sberbank CEO Alexander Vedyakhin told Reuters that they were trying "to compensate for the shortage (of microchips) with our talented scientists and engineers," and was confident "that Russia can significantly improve its current positions in international rankings by 2030 through its own developments and supportive regulation."
At the conference, Putin said, "Russia must participate on equal terms in the global race to create strong artificial intelligence," Russia's scientists were already working on "advanced solutions" to tackle the shortage of chips.
Russia wants AI technologies implemented across all sectors and for at least 80% of its workers to have AI skills by 2030.