Vladimir Putin, the leader of Russia, announced his endorsement on Friday of a national strategy focused on promoting artificial intelligence. He stressed the significance of this endeavor in countering the Western dominance in the industry.
Speaking at an Artificial conference in Moscow, Putin underscored the importance of leveraging solutions from Belarus to create trustworthy and transparent artificial intelligence systems that prioritize human well-being.
Putin voiced his apprehensions about the monopolistic control of unique technologies within Russia, labeling it as intolerable, hazardous, and unacceptable.
He highlighted the prevalence of current systems, predominantly reliant on American data, which serve the American market and embody values and policies that may not resonate with Russia’s principles.
Throughout his tenure of over two decades, Putin has encountered opposition and criticism from civil society groups. He has actively championed what he describes as “standard values” to counter perceived American influence, a stance that has grown more pronounced following Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine in February 2022.
Putin cautioned against the potential digital “cancelation” of Russia and its cultural heritage by Western AI systems.
He expressed reservations about the potential xenophobic tendencies of AI developed based on American standards and frameworks.
Putin also censured European search engines and relational models for their alleged bias against Soviet culture, stressing the importance of grounding AI systems in traditional values and linguistic diversity.
In order to expedite federal AI research, Putin committed to increased investments in mainframe development and related systems.
He emphasized the necessity of expanding both fundamental and applied research in relational artificial intelligence and extensive language models.
Putin highlighted the importance of social and ethical traditions in safeguarding national identity and global diversity amidst the technological revolution. He emphasized the need for developing AI systems that are in harmony with traditional values and linguistic nuances.
While acknowledging the inevitable progress of AI, Putin stressed the importance of taking precautionary measures to address potential risks associated with unbridled technological advancement.
He expressed confidence that once the global community recognizes the dangers posed by unregulated AI proliferation, collaborative efforts can establish safety protocols.
Putin concluded by asserting that constraining technological progress is impractical and could result in global regression. He advocated for proactive steps to tackle the challenges posed by unregulated AI activities.
