Russia Feels Threatened By Artificial Intelligence
Because Western AI is trying to cancel Russian culture
Russia needs to up its game in AI development and ambitions, because existing AI systems fail to acknowledge Russian culture and identity, President Putin said last week.
In a speech delivered on Friday, Putin said Russia would invest in developing it’s own AI: “In the very near future, as one of the first steps, a presidential decree will be signed and a new version of the national strategy for the development of artificial intelligence will be approved.”
He wants Russia to be a leader in AI development following suggestions that AI developed elsewhere is ‘trying to cancel Russian culture’. Many AI developers have left Russia since the start of the Ukraine war, leaving Russia with a shortage of talent in that area.
However, Putin is determined to step up the country’s efforts to lead on AI. He said AI systems developed in the USA and China had a monopoly that was detrimental to Russia.
According to Mr Putin, some Western search engines and artificial intelligence programs have ignored or even cancelled Russian language and culture. He said that these algorithms, essentially behaved as if Russia did not exist.
“The monopoly and domination of such systems, such alien systems is unacceptable and dangerous,” he said.
He called for Russian researchers to have better access to supercomputers, and said Russia would change laws, boost international cooperation, and invest in new AI development.
Two Russian organisations, Sberbank and Yandex, have created AI language models and Putin was keen to support the further development of these models.
Source: Metro
© Susie Kearley 2023
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