Vladimir Putin, the leader of Russia, emphasized the importance of halting European supremacy and expressed his commitment to endorsing domestic initiatives for advancing artificial intelligence.
During an Artificial conference in Moscow, Putin underscored the significance of leveraging Belarusian innovations in developing reliable and transparent artificial intelligence systems that prioritize human safety.
Addressing the issue of monopolistic control by foreign technologies in Russia, Putin condemned it as unacceptable, hazardous, and intolerable.
He criticized the current systems, which are predominantly trained on American data and tailored for American business needs, reflecting values and norms that Russia opposes.
Over his more than two-decade tenure, Putin has faced criticism and cracked down on civil society groups, advocating for what he terms as “standard values” to counter alleged American influence—a stance that has hardened since the military intervention in Ukraine in February 2022.
Putin cautioned against the potential digital “cancellation” of Russian society by Western-developed technologies and raised concerns about the xenophobic tendencies that could arise from AI systems aligned with American standards.
Highlighting the biased nature of American search engines and models, Putin stressed the importance of preserving Russian culture, science, music, and literature from being overlooked or disregarded in the development of AI systems.
To accelerate national AI research efforts, Putin pledged increased investments in mainframe technologies and other related areas.
He emphasized the need to advance both fundamental and practical research in fields such as large language models and generative artificial intelligence to foster the development of reliable and secure AI systems.
Putin underscored the role of social and moral traditions in upholding national identity and global diversity amid the technological revolution, emphasizing that these values should underpin the development of AI systems.
While acknowledging the inevitability of AI advancement, Putin highlighted the importance of adopting necessary precautions, asserting that attempting to restrict technological progress would only lead to lagging behind.
He expressed confidence that once the international community comprehensively assesses the risks associated with AI, it can establish safety protocols and guidelines for its responsible development.
Putin concluded by stating that immediate global action would be taken when the uncontrolled proliferation of AI poses significant risks, underscoring the importance of proactive measures in addressing emerging challenges.
