Putin calls for Russia to become AI leader

Sitting out the artificial intelligence development race is not an option for Russia, President Vladimir Putin has said.

Putin commented on the technology in response to a question at Thursday’s plenary session of the Valdai Discussion Forum, an annual event in the Russian city of Sochi.

“I think it’s impossible to ban it. It will find a way, especially when there is competition – and competition is growing,” Putin told the audience. Moscow is inclined to regulate AI instead of trying to prohibit its use, he summarized.

“The development of AI is inevitable, and here we can be among the leaders, given the advantages we have,” the Russian president added.

Leading the development of AI are online platforms founded in the West, which have a tendency to shape the views of their users, Putin noted.

“We need to understand this and develop our own, sovereign, AI – using everything we have,” the Russian president said.

Putin compared the AI debate to the upsides and downsides of the nuclear age. Using the atom peacefully for generating energy, in medicine and for transportation already happens and is likely to expand, given climate change concerns, the Russian leader said.

“But there are also nuclear weapons, a massive threat to humanity,” he added.