Putin Calls For Russia-China Artificial Intelligence Alliance

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has instructed the government and Sberbank, the country’s largest bank and a tech innovator, to create an alliance with China to develop artificial intelligence. Putin’s directive was issued after the Artificial Intelligence Journey Conference held in Moscow last month.

Speaking at the conference, the President of the Russian Federation said: “Artificial intelligence technologies are called upon to become the most important resource for achieving national development goals, strengthening the country’s defense capability, qualitative development of the economy and social sectors, public administration, and growth of innovations. In order to successfully solve these tasks, Russia must become a world leader not only in the creation, but also in the scale of application and penetration of artificial intelligence into all spheres of our life without exception”.

The list of the Russian president’s instructions has been published on the Kremlin website. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Sberbank CEO Herman Gref have been appointed responsible for the fulfillment. A progress report is expected by April 2025.

The partnership with China is aimed at using China’s experience in artificial intelligence, which is recognized as one of the most advanced in the world. Alexander Vedyakhin, First Deputy Chairman of the Bank’s Management Board, earlier noted that Sberbank is largely guided by China’s experience in AI development. “We are, of course, watching how China is developing AI and are inspired in many ways by the models and examples it shows. We regularly attend major exhibitions in China, visit Chinese companies and major universities. We are certainly impressed by the progress China has made in AI development and implementation,” Vedyakhin said.

China has heavily invested in AI, aiming to become the global leader by 2030, according to its ‘New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan’ launched in 2017.

Beijing has rapidly implemented AI across various sectors, including manufacturing, healthcare, and transportation, and is a global leader in AI patents, particularly in generative AI technologies. Between 2014 and 2023, Chinese entities filed over 38,000 generative AI patents, accounting for approximately 70% of such filings worldwide.

Chinese researchers have significantly increased their contributions to AI literature. China surpassed the US in terms of total number of AI-related journal citations in 2020.

During the AIJ conference, Putin emphasized the need to increase efforts to develop Russian AI systems. He has called for expanded AI use in schools to improve student counselling and learning, as well as support for local governments to integrate AI into public administration.

In December, the first textbooks on artificial intelligence for students in grades 5-9 were presented in Russia. The textbooks explain what artificial intelligence is, when the technology appeared and how it helps humans in the modern world. Together with the Prosveshchenie publishing house, they were developed by neural network specialists from Gazprom Neft and 30 expert practitioners from the country’s leading technology companies. The textbooks are currently undergoing expert review by the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation and are planned to be introduced in schools across the country starting in the 2025-2026 academic year.