According to a report by "Russia Today" on the 1st, local time, Russian President Putin has instructed Sberbank of Russia to join hands with China to jointly promote the further development of artificial intelligence (AI). As Russia's largest bank, Sberbank is a technological innovator and leader in the country's AI field.
It is reported that this instruction was issued after an AI-themed meeting in December 2024. The task was assigned to Russian Prime Minister Mishustin and Sberbank CEO Gref to lead the execution, with a progress report expected to be submitted in April this year.
The report states that China is recognized as a world leader in the field of AI, and this cooperation aims to learn from China's expertise in this domain. Many of Sberbank's AI projects view China as a key source of inspiration. Sberbank's First Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board, Vidyakin, recently stated that China's AI breakthroughs have played an important role in shaping the bank's own ambitions.
"Russia Today" mentioned that in recent years, China has invested heavily in the AI field, with the goal, as outlined in the "New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan" issued by the State Council of China in 2017, to become a global leader by 2030. To this end, China has rapidly applied AI to multiple fields such as manufacturing, healthcare, and transportation, and leads in AI patent applications, particularly in generative AI technology.
From 2014 to 2023, Chinese entities submitted over 38,000 generative AI patents, accounting for about 70% of the global patent applications in this category. Additionally, the contribution of Chinese researchers to AI literature has also increased significantly, with China surpassing the U.S. in total citations in AI-related journals as early as 2020.
From December 11 to 13 last year, the "AI World Tour" international conference was held in Moscow, marking the 9th consecutive year that Russia has hosted this international forum event. At the conference, Putin emphasized the necessity of increasing domestic AI development efforts. When introducing specific applications of AI in public administration work, he mentioned the AI model GigaChat, developed by Sberbank, which is hailed as the "Russian version of ChatGPT."
On December 11 last year, Sberbank of Russia announced that the national AI associations from BRICS member countries China, Brazil, India, and South Africa, as well as Serbia, Indonesia, and other non-BRICS countries, had joined the "Artificial Intelligence Alliance Network." The bank stated that this organization will promote joint research in technology and AI regulation, and provide opportunities for the sale of AI products in the markets of the member countries.