- Russia forms national AI task force to ensure technological and national sovereignty
- President Putin insists only Russian-designed AI systems will be used for national security purposes
- Sberbank and Yandex develop local LLMs like Gigachat and Yandex GPT
President Vladimir Putin has confirmed that Russia will create a national working group to coordinate the development and deployment of domestically produced artificial intelligence.
The initiative aims to strengthen Russian technological sovereignty and reduce dependence on foreign systems as other countries advance in AI development.
The task force will focus on building new data centers and ensuring reliable energy sources, including small-scale nuclear power plants, to support AI infrastructure.
Putin is at the center of things
Putin claimed that AI-based technologies are expected to contribute more than 11 trillion rubles to the country’s gross domestic product by 2030.
He called for a national AI implementation plan alongside the task force and urged public institutions and private companies to more fully integrate AI into their operations.
“For Russia, this is a matter of national, technological and values-based sovereignty. Therefore, our country must have a complete set of its own technologies and products in the field of generative AI,” Putin said during AI Journey, an AI event hosted in the country.
Although far behind the United States and China, some Russian companies claim to have developed multilingual models, including Gigachat and Yandex GPT, through Sberbank and Yandex.
Sberbank, in particular, says it has transformed from a traditional bank to a technology-driven company, demonstrating humanoid robots at health-scanning vending machines at the event.
Putin stressed that reliance on foreign LLMs was unacceptable, saying only Russian-designed AI systems should be used for national security and intelligence gathering.
Russian authorities are reportedly working on autonomous drones capable of operating in swarms and striking targets at ranges of up to 100 kilometers (62 miles).
Ukrainian drone experts have highlighted that these developments could transform military operations, particularly with AI-enhanced targeting and coordination.
Putin also said that excessive regulation should not hamper progress in AI and that military or civilian applications would be developed within the national framework.
Western sanctions, which restrict imports of computer hardware, including microchips, have limited Russia’s ability to expand its computing capacity and develop large-scale AI tools.
The national task force plans to alleviate these problems by focusing on domestic production of necessary components and ensuring continued energy supply.
Via Cybernews
Follow TechRadar on Google News And add us as your favorite source to get our news, reviews and expert opinions in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can too follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form and receive regular updates from us on WhatsApp Also.
