Russia to boost AI clout despite West's sanctions, says Sberbank's Dy CEO

Russia has the potential to improve its position in global AI ratings by 2030 despite Western sanctions thanks to talented developers and own generative AI models, Alexander Vedyakhin, first deputy CEO of Russia's largest lender Sberbank, told Reuters. 

Sberbank is spearheading AI development in Russia, which currently ranks 31st of 83 countries by AI implementation, innovation and investment on UK-based Tortoise Media's Global AI Index, well behind not only the United States and China but also fellow BRICS members India and Brazil. 

"I am confident that Russia can significantly improve its current positions in international rankings by 2030 through its own developments and supportive regulation in the field of generative AI," Vedyakhin said in an interview. 

Vedyakhin stressed that Russia is lagging the leaders the United States and China by 6 to 9 months while Western sanctions have limited the country's capacity to boost its computer power. 

"The sanctions were aimed at limiting Russia's computing power, but we are trying to compensate for the shortage with our talented scientists and engineers," he said. 

Vedyakhin said that Russia will not compete with the U.S. and China in building giant data centres, but will focus on development of smart AI models similar to Meta's Llama. He said that Russian language generative AI models guaranteed technological sovereignty. 

"I believe that any country that sees itself as independent on the world stage should have its own large language model," Vedyakhin said. Russia is among ten countries, which are developing its own national generative AI models. 

President Vladimir Putin said on Dec. 11 that Russia would develop AI with BRICS partners and other countries, in a bid to challenge the dominance of the United States in one of the most promising technologies of the 21st century. 

Vedyakhin said that China and especially Europe, were losing their advantage in AI due to excessive regulation, expressing hopes that the government will maintain AI-supportive regulation in the future. 

"If we deprive our scientists and major corporations of the right to experiment now, it will halt the development of technology. As soon as bans appear, we may start losing the AI race in artificial intelligence," Vedyakhin said. 

Many AI developers left Russia in recent years, especially fleeing mobilisation drive for the Ukraine conflict in 2022. Vedyakhin said some are now returning home, lured by opportunities in Russia's AI sector. 

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