Putin calls for AI alliance with China
Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed the government and Sberbank, the country’s largest bank and a tech innovator, to team up with China to develop artificial intelligence.
The directive, issued after an AI-themed conference in December, tasks Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Sberbank CEO German Gref with spearheading the initiative. A progress report is expected by April 2025.
The partnership aims to tap into China’s AI expertise, which is recognized as being among the world’s most advanced. Sberbank, a leader in developing AI in Russia, has looked to China as a key inspiration for many of its projects. Alexander Vedyakhin, the bank’s first deputy chairman, recently credited China’s AI breakthroughs with shaping Sberbank’s own ambitions.
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 leads in AI patent applications, 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 already in 2020.
During the December conference, Putin also emphasized the need to increase efforts to develop AI domestically. He’s called for expanded AI use in schools to improve student counseling and learning, as well as support for local governments to integrate AI into public administration.
The Russian president announced that AI had helped slash robberies by 10.5 times and home burglaries by 34.5 times. In December 2024, the country introduced its first AI textbooks for students in grades 5-9. These textbooks provide an introduction to AI, detailing how it works, how specialists interact with it, and how it is applied across various industries. “Russia must become a world leader not only in terms of creating, but also adopting and integrating artificial intelligence in all spheres of our life without exception,” he said.
