Russia ramps up AI efforts amid sanctions
Despite Western embargoes, the country is determined to achieve technological self-reliance.
At Moscow’s AI Journey event, organized by Russian firm Sber, President Vladimir Putin emphasized a strategic shift toward developing homegrown solutions to counter sanctions.
He warned that Western attempts to dominate AI technology pose risks and stressed that Russia should cultivate its own capabilities, noting that the nation’s energy resources could provide a competitive advantage due to AI’s significant power requirements.
Russian tech leaders like Sber and Yandex are spearheading the country’s AI initiatives. Sber unveiled its humanoid robot “Green,” highlighted by CEO German Gref as a tangible expression of Russian engineers’ “physical AI” vision. Green, powered by Sber’s AI model GigaChat, can perceive its environment, interact with objects, and perform pre-programmed actions, including dancing. Experts suggest its future applications may span industrial production to personal assistance.
Sber also introduced the latest version of GigaChat, positioned as a competitor to ChatGPT.
According to company executives, the model extends beyond text generation and coding, offering capabilities in satellite image processing and complex voice command recognition.
They claim GigaChat demonstrates superior Russian-language proficiency and is already deployed in public services to enhance operational efficiency. At the forum, Sber showcased a smart ATM integrated with GigaChat to conduct quick health checks, discuss financial matters such as mortgages, and perform standard banking functions.
Yandex, often referred to as Russia’s Google, is embedding AI across its projects, including its courier robots, or Yandex Rovers. The company is advancing self-driving technologies, developing algorithms that allow autonomous vehicles to navigate safely in dense traffic and snowy conditions—a key component of its initiative to modernize Russia’s logistics and transportation sectors.
AI integration is also expanding into Russia’s defense industry amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. The military is emphasizing autonomous capabilities for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), while AI software is increasingly utilized in electronic warfare systems for target identification. Priority projects include swarm UAVs and AI assistants for pilots as part of the Russian army’s modernization strategy.
However, experts note that Russia faces significant obstacles in securing the necessary hardware. Sanctions limit access to GPUs from major chipmakers such as Nvidia. To address this, Russia is turning to China and employing parallel import strategies, though domestic processor projects like Elbrus and Baikal have proven insufficient.
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