Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed his government to fund research into artificial intelligence as competition with the West to develop such technology heats up.
Putin orders state support for AI: Late in 2022, generative AI bots gained popularity as ChatGPT, a US product, proved it could have conversations with humans-like naturalness, inspiring Russia to create its own technology.
The document states that Putin gave the government the mandate to “implement measures” to support AI research, including “providing for an annual allocation from the federal budget.”
The memo stated that this research will involve “optimising machine learning algorithms” as well as creating “large language models” like the one created by OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Additionally, it directed the government to encourage the development of “super computers” by offering incentives to Russian manufacturers and urged state-owned businesses to quicken the use of AI.
Putin has urged Russia to attain what he terms “technological sovereignty” on numerous occasions, while Western sanctions related to the conflict in Ukraine prevent Moscow from obtaining computer components like semiconductors.
In April, the biggest bank in Russia, Sber, revealed that they had released their “Gigachat” conversational AI software, albeit only in test mode.
Due to ChatGPT’s success, other internet companies and venture capitalists rushed to create their own chatbots, and investors poured money into a variety of AI initiatives. Google also rushed to release its own chatbot.