Vladimir Putin, the leader of Russia, disclosed his latest strategy for competing with the Western countries in the advancement of AI during a meeting held in Moscow on Friday. He emphasized Russia’s intentions to counter the Western dominance in AI development by introducing a new federal strategy for AI enhancement.
Putin highlighted the need for Russia to assert its superiority in the realm of AI weaponry. During the Artificial Intelligence Journey event, he unveiled plans for an innovative federal AI development strategy aimed at challenging the influence of the United States over this crucial technology.
In his address, Putin emphasized the importance of ensuring that Russia’s AI models encompass the diverse cultural heritage, historical insights, and wisdom of various civilizations worldwide. He outlined the strategic objectives of the new AI plan, focusing on advancing research in conceptual AI and large language models.
To achieve these goals, Russia will ramp up its computational capabilities and bolster its expertise in AI through enhanced education initiatives. Additionally, Putin underscored the significance of revising existing laws and fostering international collaboration to drive the successful implementation of the strategy.
Putin criticized the prevalent bias in current AI models, which are predominantly trained on English-language datasets, neglecting the rich cultural nuances of Russia. He lamented that these models often fail to acknowledge Russian culture, science, music, and literature, leading to a sense of marginalization in the modern AI landscape.
The disparity in AI research among nations was also highlighted, with English-speaking countries such as the United States and the UK dominating the field. According to Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI), the US and the UK lead in the development of key machine learning systems, with Russia lagging behind significantly in this aspect.
Furthermore, concerns have been raised within the AI research community regarding the potential risks associated with the misuse of AI technology. Prominent figures like Geoffrey Hinton, a renowned British-Canadian AI researcher known as the “godfather of AI,” have warned about the misuse of AI tools by entities like Putin, underscoring the need for ethical and responsible AI development practices.
