Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia will collaborate with BRICS countries and other nations to develop AI technologies, aiming to rival the U.S. in the AI sector. The move includes the establishment of an "AI Alliance Network" involving several countries.
On Wednesday, December 11, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Russia will collaborate with BRICS countries and other nations to develop artificial intelligence (AI) in order to challenge the U.S. dominance in the field.
The "World AI Journey" international conference is being held in Moscow from December 11 to 13, marking Russia’s ninth consecutive year hosting the event.
As Russia's largest bank, Sberbank is a leader in the country’s AI sector.
On Wednesday, Sberbank announced that AI associations from BRICS member countries — China, Brazil, India, and South Africa — as well as from Serbia, Indonesia, and other non-BRICS nations, have joined the "AI Alliance Network." The bank stated that this organization will promote joint research in technology and AI regulation and create opportunities for the sale of AI products in member countries' markets.
Putin, speaking at the AI conference on Wednesday, said, “Russia must equally participate in the global race to create powerful AI, and this is exactly what Russian scientists are currently working on with advanced solutions.”
“We invite scientists from around the world to cooperate,” Putin added.
As part of Western sanctions against Russia, major global chip manufacturers have stopped supplying Russia. Last year, Sberbank CEO German Gref mentioned that one of the most difficult devices to replace in AI development is the graphics processing unit (GPU), which is crucial for supporting AI development.
Currently, 10 countries globally are developing their own generative AI models, with Russia being one of them. Other countries include China, the U.S., the U.K., and Israel.
In the Russian domestic market, the models developed by Sberbank, such as "GigaChat," and the "YandexGPT" model by Russia’s largest tech company, Yandex, dominate.
According to Russia’s AI strategy, by 2030, the application of AI technologies will bring a GDP increase of 11.2 trillion rubles (approximately 109 billion USD) to its industries, compared to just 0.2 trillion rubles (about 1.9 billion USD) in 2023.
The strategy also points out that by 2030, 80% of Russian workers will have AI skills, up from just 5% in 2023. Additionally, AI investment will grow sevenfold, reaching 850 billion rubles.
According to the global AI index by UK’s Tortoise Media, Russia currently ranks 31st in AI implementation, innovation, and investment out of 83 countries, trailing not only the U.S. and China but also India and Brazil.
Stanford University’s AI activity tool, which evaluated 36 countries across 42 AI indicators, including research and development, places Russia at 29th.
