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Before the plenary session, Vladimir Putin, accompanied by Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Maxim Oreshkin and President and Chairman of the Executive Board of Sberbank German Gref, toured an exhibition dedicated to the development of generative artificial intelligence (AI).

At the GigaChat and Smart Devices display stand, the President was given a presentation of the capabilities of Sber’s AI-enabled products such as a smart ring that reads biometric data and interprets them using GigaChat. At the stand GigaChat: Results of the Year with the President, specialists explained that AI was being used to process people’s appeals received by the Direct Line for the first time. The neural network is now helping the combined editorial team to process the incoming array of requests ten times faster.

The Autonomous Tractor-Trailers display showcases the results of testing unmanned tractor-trailers on the M-11 Neva motorway from Moscow to St Petersburg as part of the Unmanned Logistics Corridors federal project. The 3D Modeling and Kandinsky stand demonstrates the capabilities of generative AI for creating images and videos, as well as a 3D modeling project that uses AI to make parts for industrial equipment.

At the T-Bank display, AI in Education, the President was given information about corporate educational programmes for schoolchildren, students, and IT specialists.

* * *

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen,

Friends,

I am very pleased to welcome you to Artificial Intelligence Journey. This conference has already become one of the most high-profile and much-anticipated international events in the science and technology domain.

My colleagues just told me that millions of citizens of our country as well as foreigners, from all over the world, are participating in the conference online and are closely following the discussions. About half of the audience are young people, new researchers and software developers who are directly involved in the creation, design, and use of products and services that are ahead of our time.

We also have in this room today the winners of the Russian School Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence. My colleagues just told me that they are taking part in the plenary session. I sincerely congratulate them on this significant achievement. Let’s honour them. I am sure that being at such a high-level conference will be extremely useful for our future joint work in education and for your career trajectory.

Sberbank has certainly played a major role in making Russia a significant platform for discussing advanced technologies, and I would like to thank Sberbank, as well as the Alliance in the sphere of AI, an industry organisation created five years ago by the largest domestic companies here at this conference.

I would like to congratulate you all on this meaningful milestone. I would also like to thank you for your work, for your perseverance in promoting the ideas of progress, for your aspiration to make the most daring and fantastic dreams come true, and to bring them to everyday products and services, to projects that might seem simple, but are game-changers nonetheless. Due to these successful projects, Russia is now at the forefront of the momentous changes taking place around the world.

They are gaining momentum and strength, which means that we – I am primarily addressing the Russian audience – we need to gain traction as well and come up with truly innovative, out-of-the-box solutions.

I would like to note that in just a year, artificial intelligence technologies have transformed entire industries beyond recognition, even the so-called creative industries, where human sense of harmony and beauty had seemed absolutely irreplaceable. To be honest, I thought this was impossible, but these boundaries are being erased now.

Generative models can create high-quality music in various genres, simultaneously translate speech into dozens of languages in real time, produce videos that are hardly distinguishable from real footage, create video games using text or pictures, as well as 3D models, digital twins of complex systems. In fact, this means that a revolution is happening in engineering, in the design and construction of fundamentally new components and entire devices.

Artificial intelligence now reads and analyses even hard-to-read images and videos, regardless of weather conditions or other interferences. This opens up entirely different opportunities for robotics, for the creation of unmanned vehicles for land, air and water.

Generative AI tools predict natural disasters quite accurately. They can analyse tables and diagrams and solve the most complex mathematical and physics problems in just a few short steps.

The fact that the domestic companies are quickly implementing these innovations and achievements in their work and are moving in lockstep with time is vitally important. For example, Sber released a GigaChat MAX service based on innovative solutions, and Yandex presented the fourth generation of Yandex Chat. T-Bank, MTS, and VK have made great strides in developing their neural models. As you are aware, the restrictions imposed on Russia and the Russian economy push us to look for new solutions, and you are effectively finding them.

What makes the leap in AI algorithms fundamentally distinct? Our colleagues have just briefed me about it. These algorithms are now capable of reasoning and use logic when they expound their thoughts, meaning that the generative artificial intelligence has significantly improved its cognitive, thinking abilities.

In this regard, mathematician Rene Descartes once famously said, “I think, therefore I am”. This dictum has become a symbol of the scientific revolution of the Age of Enlightenment. That was back in the 16^th and the 17^th centuries. Up until now, reasoning, as well as memory, speech, and empathy were considered foundational characteristics of homo sapiens, a human being.

At the same time, a growing number of experts and researchers are saying that progress in the reasoning ability will, in the foreseeable future, lead to the emergence of what is known as strong artificial intelligence, i.e. technologies that will surpass humans in key activities. The processes which now take years to accomplish, will be completed, and in some areas are already completed, not in days, but in hours, minutes and even seconds.

For example, the scale and complexity of research is growing in all areas of science ranging from genetics to creating innovative materials. Artificial intelligence is capable of processing huge amounts of data, modeling the most daring experiments, and finding new, as researchers say, state space search-based solutions which can shorten the path from hypothesis to scientific discovery by tens, and even hundreds of times.

Clearly, the availability of our own research potential in the field of the new generation of artificial intelligence is one of the key prerequisites for scientific, technological and, importantly, our country’s worldview sovereignty.

I brought up the worldview sovereignty, because the algorithms, the underlying AI principles are being laid down, at least for the time being, mostly by humans who are guided by certain values, language, images, culture, history, and traditions, as well as national specifics and interests. To be able to determine the future of Russia, we must create such technologies ourselves and, of course, do so in collaboration with those who are willing to work.

I would add in this regard that our activities in the field of artificial intelligence should rely on a solid foundation created by outstanding Russian philosophers, secular and religious thinkers, historians, linguists, and recognised authorities in the field of humanitarian and cultural knowledge. Of course, that includes scholars, mathematicians, specialists in the field of cybernetics and IT. I will name just some of them, whom you, as specialists, certainly know and rely on their works and achievements of the past years. These are Andrei Kolmogorov, Alexei Lyapunov, and Alexander Galushkin.

It is our direct duty to build on their legacy, and to act as equal participants in the global race to create a strong artificial intelligence.

The Russian scientists are working on developing advanced solutions. Our cultural figures are well known and honoured by wide audiences. The names of the researchers are heard less often, but I will give you some names: Yevgeny Burnayev, Alexander Gasnikov, and Ivan Oseledets. Our key AI research centres are operating successfully. We encourage scientists from all over the world to join us in our research activities.

In this regard, we propose to hold an international foresight in Russia, a kind of strategic session to discuss the future of artificial intelligence, and to put our heads together regarding the future of this powerful technology. This will allow us to promptly respond to emerging challenges and risks, to use outside-the-box solutions and opportunities, and to outline new areas for scientific breakthroughs and partnerships.

Colleagues,

The AI technology is called upon to become the critical resource for achieving national development goals, to strengthen the country’s defence capability, to ensure high-quality development of the economy and social sectors, public administration, and growth of innovations. In order to successfully meet these challenges, Russia must become a world leader not only in matters of creation, but also in the scale of using artificial intelligence in all spheres of our life without exception.

I think the state will do the right thing if it shows an example of bold and advanced approaches. Of course, we must begin with ourselves. Our colleagues have just shared how they are helping me prepare for the Direct Line and the year-end news conference on December 19. A large language model developed by Sber is now being used for the first time ever to receive, process and analyse calls, millions of them every year. This tool gets the results that cause respect and exceed all expectations.

What does this mean in practice? Previously, call centre operators and employees of the Russian Popular Front worked day and night to manually sieve through incoming questions concerning the topics that most people find important. Today, though, the massive amount of questions, which used to be processed over the course of a year with the involvement of a large number of specialists, will be handled in a completely different way.

Prior to the beginning of the programme, we will now see an almost complete, objective, and comprehensive picture of the issues that people of different ages, generations, professions, and residents of particular population centres and regions, the entire country, in fact, find important. Based on the results, we will immediately set tasks for specific agencies, governors, and ministries. The most pressing issues are already being raised, and the agencies have already started working on them and responding to them. This is a vivid example of AI use in public administration.

Such a feedback tool in our interaction with the people is unrivalled in the full sense of the word. I am aware that Sber has plans to refine this product based on its performance during the Direct Line. It will be extremely useful in everyday work of the authorities of all levels.

Overall, the outcomes of such a major experiment will significantly impact the efficiency of public administration. Primarily, the newly gained experience should be used in creating integrated digital platforms. The widespread implementation of such platforms will go beyond public administration, and be also used in healthcare, the manufacturing industry, transport, tourism, and every other sphere, and be completed in or before 2030.

Platform solutions like this should become the foundation for digitalising management systems in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. In the upcoming years, many regional services should be provided using generative artificial intelligence. I would like to ask the Government to help our colleagues at all levels in fulfilling these tasks, both in municipalities and in the regions.

The implementation of these approaches will allow the entire country to transfer to data-based management, automate bureaucratic procedures, and provide a completely different level of control and decision-making, in fact, making a fundamental technological transition in the entire management system.

This difficult but very important work must be guided by our leaders, those who are not afraid of the new and introduce cutting-edge solutions. I would like to use this opportunity to name the regions that won the National Prize for artificial intelligence. We are holding this competition to encourage work at the regional level. This year’s winners are Moscow, and the Moscow, Lipetsk, Tula, and Tyumen Regions. I congratulate my colleagues and wish them further success.

Friends,

Russia’s experience in the practical implementation of artificial intelligence is needed in various countries. Today, nations in Asia, Africa, Latin America, as well as our partners from the CIS, the Eurasian Economic Union, the SCO, BRICS, and other associations are forming promising economic sectors and introducing innovations. Russia unquestionably shares and supports their commitment to developing, and also supports domestic companies in creating AI-based products and services both for themselves and for the whole world.

We will provide the countries of the Global South and East with consultative and technical assistance in the domain of artificial intelligence. Of course, we hope that we will also borrow our partners’ achievements and implement joint projects based on equal access to knowledge, technology, and scientific achievements. This priority is enshrined in the National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence.

We are ready to help create and apply generative models not only in Russian, but also in other languages. As I have said, these systems’ algorithms must be trusted, that is, clear, open, and unbiased. They must also be developed considering cultural and national peculiarities of each civilisation with its history, identity and traditions, which we, in Russia, deeply respect.

I am confident that an international alliance of AI National associations and development institutions of the BRICS countries and other interested states will give a boost to this cooperation. This Alliance will be launched at the AI Journey conference today. I hope that new foreign participants, including my colleagues, leaders of state, will attend this event.

Friends, colleagues,

I with you new achievements, scientific and technological breakthroughs.

Thank you for your attention. All the best. Thank you.

CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board of Sberbank PJSC German Gref: Friends,

I want to welcome you all here at our ninth conference. This is the ninth consecutive year that we have met at this event, which is turning into one of the largest internationally.

And I want to begin it with thanking you, Mr President, for your years-long support for the development of technologies and specifically artificial intelligence in the country. Of course, it drives immensely all participants in the Artificial Intelligence Alliance, who are engaged in the development of this matter in our country.

I want to thank the Government, the Presidential Executive Office, the regions, the Academy of Sciences and universities, our partners, for their joint work. Today, the country has already established a network of universities that serve as centres for the development of artificial intelligence. Today, all the successes that have been shown to the President at the stands are results of joint work.

Today, Mr President, you have already mentioned in your address the artificial intelligence, which for the first time is processing people’s requests to you at the Direct Line. And we thought that the topics that the citizens of our country have identified as the most pressing for themselves are most likely to be pressing not only for the citizens of our country, but also for the citizens of any other country. They are such topics as urban development, roads, car parks, urban environment and infrastructure.

The second subject is public administration: efficiency of public administration, effective spending of public funds, slow execution of judicial decisions.

The third subject is education: outdated educational methods, stressed-out children due to a large number of exams, heavy workloads on teachers.

The fourth subject is social services and protection: lack of information on current benefits and problems with obtaining these benefits.

And the fifth subject is medicine: the availability of medical services and their quality.

We asked Russian and international experts who came to the conference to share their experience. They will tell us how artificial intelligence is already helping people to solve the most pressing problems that have been identified in citizens' appeals. And the first such area is the application of artificial intelligence for the so-called smart city technologies.

Let us turn to international experience. The United Arab Emirates has successfully created and is one of the global leaders in creating smart cities. Today, they have built technological cities with a very developed, including digital, infrastructure in places, where there was a desert 50 years ago.

I would like to give the floor to Her Excellency Dr Aisha Bin Bishr. She is an internationally recognised expert on global digital transformation and an expert on smart city initiatives. I would like to ask you, Dr Aisha, to tell us what is being done in the United Arab Emirates in this regard.

(Aisha Bin Bishr, the founder of the Smart Dubai project of citywide smart transformation, spoke about the AI’s transforming influence and the development of Dubai's AI Roadmap, which helped the government identify 52 scenarios for AI use, ranging from government service to transportation and healthcare. She praised the AI-assisted services in Moscow and proposed two initiatives to further strengthen Moscow’s global leadership in the innovative smart city development. The first initiative, Mayak (Beacon), aims to create a global showcase of Moscow’s technological achievements through social media and international events, turning Moscow into a centre of AI-assisted transformation. The second initiative involves annual reports on the broad possibilities of artificial intelligence available in Russia as a reliable source of information for investors, scientists and governments.)

Vladimir Putin: I would like to begin by thanking you for being here and participating in today’s event hosted by Sber.

I would also like to note – I know this from my personal contacts with the President of the United Arab Emirates – Mr Al Nahyan places great emphasis on this and attributes high importance to this. His efforts to implement artificial intelligence in all spheres of life and to expand its use are yielding results.

We are aware of the Arab Emirates’ last year international rankings. We are also aware of your country’s incredible achievements as it moved up several positions and reached incredible heights.

With regard to “intelligent” cities, we are, indeed, implementing this technology in our country, and Moscow is a world leader in this regard. This was the case last year, and we are moving forward this year as well. We are also implementing corresponding national rankings. No need to say that Moscow ranks first, followed by St Petersburg, the Moscow Region, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, and Perm. All of this information is monitored, and certain assessments are given to achievements in this area.

You have named several areas, but, of course, this is not an exhaustive list, which includes practically all areas of our lives, such as housing and utilities, transport, healthcare, education, and everything else, you name it. The people in the audience, who are mostly specialists in these fields, know what I am talking about.

We are trying to do all of that. Fighting crime is among the most important areas for using AI. You just mentioned that citing the example of the UAE police, including in Dubai.

Moscow, too, has shown the same results which are, at first glance, simply remarkable, if not stunning. For example, the number of robberies has decreased by 10.5 times, and the number of burglaries in Moscow has fallen by almost 35 times precisely because of the use of artificial intelligence.

So, artificial intelligence plays an enormous role in all these areas. There is no doubt that these capabilities will grow, and we will try to leverage them all.

We are willing to promote and present your proposals, which I jotted down for myself, and the report on the AI capabilities, and our achievements. We will also try to implement the Lighthouse project that you mentioned, bearing in mind Moscow’s achievements and proposals in the field of artificial intelligence and potential investment in Moscow.

Moscow is moving forward. I believe it is one of the best metropolitan areas in the world, if we look at what is being done in Moscow. There are things to show, and by showing them, we have an opportunity to invite our partners and friends to work in Moscow which provides, undoubtedly, highly attractive investment opportunities across a variety of areas, including high-tech and manufacturing industries, research and education.

We will work together. I appreciate your proposals.

German Gref: Colleagues, our next issue has to do with effective state governance. People are concerned about how quickly state agencies respond to their appeals, and how court decisions are enforced. Artificial intelligence plays a major practical role in achieving more effective state governance.

This year, the Finance Ministry even drafted the federal budget using AI technologies for the first time. AI helps us correctly break down budgetary expenditures and prioritise funding based on specific results that should be achieved. There are multiple other examples of AI being used by regional agencies. China’s experience is particularly interesting. This summer, the Shanghai government announced the creation of a special fund worth 100 billion yuan, or over $10 billion, for investing in AI, bio-medicine and chip manufacture.

Therefore, our next speaker is Dr Song Haitao, President of the Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Research Institute. Dr Song will tell us how AI is used for state governance in China, including in the city of Shanghai, which is a major metropolis and one of China’s most advanced.

(Dr Song Haitao discussed the work of the Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, which studies and develops AI technologies and facilitates their commercial and industrial introduction in Shanghai. He also noted that in September 2024, the UN organised an international seminar on expanding the AI potential in Shanghai and invited officials from 38 countries for a training course. In July of this yearduring theopening ceremony of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, the Government of China and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) signed an agreement on establishing the Advanced Experience Centre of the UNIDO Global Alliance on Artificial Intelligence for Industry and launched its construction in Shanghai. During the 16^th BRICS Summit in Kazan last October, President of China Xi Jinping conducted a presentation of this centre and told the President of Russia the details of this project. Moreover, Dr Song Haitao said that, in an effort to realise an important consensus, reached at a meeting between the Chinese and Russian presidents, the Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Research Institute will sign a memorandum on cooperation with Sber to promote Chinese-Russian technological research, R&D projects and industrial cooperation in the AI sphere.)

Vladimir Putin: I regularly talk with President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping. I know very well what he thinks about innovations in general and about vital elements of modern-day progress, including artificial intelligence, in particular.

He is a man who looks to the future. I can say this definitely from our joint work. It is no coincidence that President Xi supports the initiatives you have mentioned just now.

I also know Shanghai, the sister city of St Petersburg. I visited it back when I worked in St Petersburg, and I am fully aware of the changes that have happened there, the pace of progress, and the way it is changing outwardly and internally, meaning the use of modern governance instruments.

The Shanghai authorities are certainly not only cooperating with Jiaotong University because this is what you want in light of your achievements (they would not have done it otherwise), but also because they look to you for guidance. Mr Song Haitao, I am delighted that you plan to sign an agreement with Sberbank. I believe that this will benefit both sides, because China is making great strides in its technological development and is using vital instruments for this development. Of course, artificial intelligence, which is your professional sphere, is one of these crucial instruments.

Regarding its applications, we have already talked about this. As our colleague from the United Arab Emirates has said, AI can be used everywhere, in all spheres of government and administration. But there is one extremely important element which you have mentioned in passing, but which I regard as important both for government bodies and citizens: the use of artificial intelligence not only accelerates decision-making and ensures feedback but also helps streamline expenditures and the use of financial, land, water, electricity and other resources. It is obvious that AI can make the work of the bodies of power more effective in absolutely all spheres.

There is one more important thing I would like to point out. It concerns all countries. I mean the struggle against corruption and abuse of authority, because AI-assisted technologies make decisions transparent and offer people an opportunity to control the process. AI-assisted decisions are substantiated and understandable to the people. Taken together, this helps create political stability in the country, because the main thing in dealing with such matters is that people trust what their governments do. Artificial intelligence certainly helps achieve this goal, which is why this is important.

For my part, I will certainly support all your initiatives regarding continued cooperation with Russian organisations in this segment, including Sberbank as a leader in the development of artificial intelligence in Russia.

Thank you.

German Gref: The next focal point is education. In Russia, nearly every technology company invests in education and establishes platforms for professional training catered to both school and university students. Yandex offers a comprehensive array of its solutions, as does VK. Today, at its stand, T-Bank unveiled its educational solutions. Naturally, we are also engaged in this endeavour. Alongside our partner within the Alliance, the Russian Direct Investment Fund, we are seeking to export these solutions internationally.

This subject is often described as particularly urgent in the inquiries we receive. Primarily, as I have previously mentioned, there is apprehension regarding the workload of educators, the stress experienced by students due to excessive demands, the introduction of new subjects, and the efficacy and modernity of education, as well as its pertinence. How can we instruct school pupils in skills that will remain relevant when they enter the workforce?

At this juncture, I wish to extend the opportunity to speak to our expert from India, Mr Aakash Guglani, a specialist in technology policy, particularly in the realm of educational policy. He is responsible for drafting policy documents in the domain of artificial intelligence and is an expert in international technology collaboration.

Mr Guglani, the floor is yours.

(Aakash Guglani, in his remarks, highlighted significant issues, attributing their origins to web search, GPS, and other data sources – all of which are controlled by major corporations, rendering these resources monopolised. In his view, the future of children ought not to be dictated by a narrow group of technology companies; rather, it should be shaped by society at large. The Indian approach advocates for a digital public infrastructure, an accessible communal platform. He also asserts that artificial intelligence should augment the capabilities of educators, rather than supplant them entirely. To this end, Aakash Guglani proposes the establishment of global educational standards in this field, suggesting that these need not be confined to domestic borders but could be transnational. He noted that India has more than 22 official languages, whereas artificial intelligence predominantly operates in English. He further emphasised the significance of data sovereignty, arguing that the development of artificial intelligence and data analysis should not be exclusively entrusted to proprietary developers or private firms.)

Vladimir Putin: Permit me to interject briefly.

I am in complete accord with you that this work, particularly the integration of artificial intelligence into education, should not be delegated to large corporations. That is the initial point.

The second point I wish to underscore, and I consider it very significant, is that our views are in full alignment with yours: you mentioned that artificial intelligence should not supplant educators but should instead enhance their capabilities – I agree entirely with this sentiment.

There will inevitably arrive a moment, possibly in the not-so-distant future, when this distinction becomes blurred, yet today, all principal tasks are defined by humans, by educators, including the tasks and opportunities designated for artificial intelligence.

Today, the teacher is arguably the only person who is in a position to encourage a student, especially a young individual, since we are talking mostly about young people, and to get them interested in acquiring any kind of knowledge whatsoever, and even more so if we are talking about acquiring optional learning. That is why I fully agree with you and share your position.

It is crucial to respect the sovereignty that you mentioned, that is, to protect personal data. This is even more important in the field of healthcare, but it is important here as well. It is critical for our country, just like it is for India, since India is a multiethnic and multi-religious nation.

I met with your Defence Minister yesterday who noted that India has many Hindi speakers and adherents of the Hindu religion. They represent the bulk of the population, but not all, and there are numerous languages in use. India is a vast country with a population of 1.5 billion and high – 10 million – rate of annual population growth.

We, in Russia, have 190 ethnic groups and a great variety of languages. Of course, it is very important to maintain, in our case, the role of the Russian language as the state language used by everyone who lives in the Russian Federation. However, the capabilities offered by artificial intelligence to translate from one language to another are extremely important for contacts with our foreign partners, and sometimes even for contacts within the country. I agree with that. This is particularly true when it comes to establishing partnerships, or friendly and professional relations with other countries. These capabilities should certainly be utilised.

I think your proposal to make AI-assisted education public, as you formulated it, at least that was the translation, is absolutely relevant.

Finally, it is crucial for our country and, as I understand, it is likewise important for India with its vast territory and large population, to make sure that anyone who is willing to acquire new knowledge and to expand their horizons overall, to receive education, wherever he or she may reside geographically, has equal access to learning opportunities. This task can be addressed with the use of modern teaching methods, especially with the help of artificial intelligence. Moreover, for low-income families, it is critically important to have access to advanced learning tools without resorting to tutors, whom many families cannot afford.

All of that is extremely important. We will keep moving forward along these lines, in this case together with you.

Thank you very much for your ideas.

By the way, Prime Minister Modi and I discuss these matters every time we meet. You know, in addition to his Make in India initiative, he is a forward-looking leader overall, which I can safely state. We keep discussing these opportunities, but I am sure you can sense them. The Prime Minister, from his level, keeps pushing India’s development towards this particular high-tech direction, and the results are there.

India has the highest economic growth rates among major economies. Let me congratulate you on this achievement.

German Gref: Thank you, Mr President.

We fully agree that education is a sphere where artificial intelligence will never be able to replace human teachers. Only humans can properly educate humans, and the teacher is the key figure in this process. Enhancing the prestige of the teaching profession and relieving them from the drudgery of paperwork so they have more time for their pupils is the best thing technology, including artificial intelligence, can do.

Thank you very much for your support. I think that we will try to do the best we can together with our colleagues, including from India, to introduce the best practices into the Russian market.

Vladimir Putin: When our colleagues presented various spheres of operation at Sberbank just now, they said that the use of artificial intelligence in the sphere of education, which we are discussing at the moment, allows for a significant optimisation of teachers’ time by relieving them of the tasks that are not inherent to their role by at least 20 percent, I think.

German Gref: Yes, 20 percent is the correct figure, Mr President. The first experiments have shown that 7,000 teachers using AI assistance have 20 percent more time they can use for their class, which is critically important in education.

A number of regions in Russia have won the AI contest, and the President has named nearly all of them. Of course, Moscow holds the leading place because it has been investing in AI for years. We are grateful to these regions because we can train AI models better thanks to their information.

The Lipetsk Region is one of the winners. We have the region’s deputy governor, Olga Beloglazova, who is responsible for social matters, here today. I would like to ask her to share their experience of using AI to facilitate and improve the quality of social services for people because social assistance and its quality tops the list of questions sent to the Direct Line with the President.

(Olga Beloglazova provided examples of social protection efforts that have been implemented by the Governor of the Lipetsk Region as part of support measures of which there are over one hundred. This means one million appeals, 28 appeal receipt channels and 280 response protocols. Navigating this system is challenging for a regular resident. The regional government uses intelligent management technology, intelligent control systems. As a result, the number of errors made by civil servants was reduced tenfold. Their productivity per employee has increased almost 4.5 times. According to the deputy governor, artificial intelligence helps citizens to exercise their rights quickly and efficiently and enables public authorities to provide assistance exactly where it is needed at the moment.)

Vladimir Putin: First of all, I would like to congratulate you and the regional leadership on your achievements in this area. You just mentioned the results. You should definitely continue in the same vein.

I would like to emphasise for the audience that the use of information technology in public administration in Russia is gaining momentum and producing positive outcomes across the country.

Russia is undeniably one of the global leaders in providing public services using advanced technology. Surprisingly, we have over 130 million users of this technology, which is almost equivalent to the Russian population, or a very large percentage in any case – over 130 million.

As my colleague mentioned, the Lipetsk Region offers 100 different types of public services. Overall in Russia, public authorities provide about 200 types of services digitally. This is a very impressive result, but we certainly need to move forward – and we will.

I fully agree with what has been said: obtaining and processing the information faster, promptly making decisions and getting feedback from the recipients of the services are extremely important factors in improving the quality of the entire system of public administration. We will continue working in this direction.

German Gref spoke about this five years ago, I am certain of that. He talked to me and reached out to the Government repeatedly. In general, Sberbank has been instrumental here. But the heads of the regions are also embracing advanced methods and the opportunities that technology provides, and we will support this at the federal level in every possible way.

Thank you, and all the best.

German Gref: Healthcare is the last topic of our discussion today and one of the most important issues for our people, based on their questions to the President.

It should be said that a great deal is being done in Russia in this sphere. Mr President, everything you have been shown at the exhibition today, like modern equipment for remote patient monitoring and so on, has been created in close coordination with the Government. The Healthcare Ministry is giving a great deal of attention to that.

We are the first to receive certificates for products which have not yet entered certification in some countries. This allows both doctors and researchers to experiment with them in search of new methods of medical assistance.

Everyone says that medicine is the next sphere where we can see breakthrough AI-assisted achievements, and that within the next ten years we will achieve as much in healthcare as we have done in the previous 100 years. There are reasons to say so.

I would like to ask doctor Viktor Gombolevsky about new medical projects. He holds a doctoral degree in medicine and is a leading researcher at the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (AIRI).

(Viktor Gombolevsky spoke about the three spheres where AI helps: affordability, quality and the creation of new medicines. He also spoke about the MosMed.AI project that had been launched this year with support from the Healthcare Ministry of Russia and the Government of Moscow, under which the AI-assisted services rely on the Moscow experiment in terms of security – the availability of a registration certificate and quality. As of now, these services are available to all healthcare facilities throughout Russia. Over 75 constituent entities of the Russian Federation have submitted requests for access to this platform. The scheme is simple: a patient only needs to come to a healthcare facility and undergo a medical test. The test is anonymous, and its results are sent to MosMed.AI, which immediately returns them to the physician, being attached to the original test, and the doctor can see the image, together with notes and prompts and the text based on the details artificial intelligence has detected. Viktor Gombolevsky also said that this year the Healthcare Ministry had issued an AI code of ethics for the healthcare industry aimed at preventing mistakes and inspiring doctors’ trust in new technologies.)

Vladimir Putin: Healthcare Minister Mikhail Murashko, who is sitting opposite me, would probably be able to tell you better about the use of artificial intelligence in Russian healthcare. When we meet, he often mentions the subject, or similar topics, as well as the growing AI-enabled capabilities of medicine.

In medicine, everything – not everything, but much – depends on promptly analysing large arrays of data that is collected or can be obtained and should be explored to make a decision on a patient, a specific person. With the development of artificial intelligence, this opportunity will increase, which means that it must be used.

Admittedly, many moral concerns arise here, as you mentioned in passing, primarily those related to data protection. A doctor, like a priest, has moral obligations towards the patient. Life is full of all kinds of events, of course, but as a rule, Russian healthcare professionals adhere to these principles and protect the interests of their patients.

But when it comes to collecting big data, this definitely requires appropriate methods of protection during data exchange, storage, transmission, and so on. This is natural. And specialists certainly realise that artificial intelligence will be very helpful in early diagnosis, and already is, which means that it will also help in further treatment and prevention of serious complications.

You also mentioned new medicines, which is also very important, and inventing these new molecules. And it is good to hear that we can now use new generations of antibiotics because, again, this helps to advance faster in the right areas of research, process new materials and obtain quicker results.

It would be better if artificial intelligence could have made us give up antibiotics altogether – enabled us to, actually. Even though we probably cannot do without them yet, it is quite possible to move in this direction using artificial intelligence. And possibly someday, they will become unnecessary if timely measures are taken at early stages of disease, including at the genetic level.

This research is extremely important and fascinating. It is also possible – carefully, of course, because of the moral side – to use genetic engineering technology, genetic engineering capabilities, also with the help of artificial intelligence, and achieve fantastic results.

But when we talk about a person’s digital profile – we are already trying to use these opportunities more and more widely – we also need to take the next step: we need to create such a digital profile on a national scale for the entire Russian healthcare system. This is a matter for the future, of course, but in general, the first bricks need to be laid in the foundations of our healthcare today. I hope it will happen.

Thank you.

German Gref: Thank you very much, Mr President.

Artificial intelligence is a pivotal technology of the 21^st century. Like any emerging technology, it carries immense potential alongside risks.

Five years ago, at this conference, the AI Alliance Russia was founded, and today it boasts over 800 Russian companies as members. Moreover, all of them have signed, among other commitments, the AI Code of Ethics.

Today, under the initiative of the AI Alliance Russia, we witness the dawn of the next level of cooperation – a truly international alliance. This alliance unites national AI associations from around the globe.

As of today, Mr President, we have 15 associations present in this hall who have consented to sign a memorandum establishing an international alliance in the field of artificial intelligence. Additionally, 13 representatives are prepared to sign it today.

Therefore, allow me to commence this procedure right now. Our colleagues will sign the memorandum, and today will be etched in history as the birth of a new alliance, where researchers from 15 countries will come together to address the risks posed by this new technology – risks that must be acknowledged. It is crucial that all developers, particularly large corporations that develop fundamental models, adopt a responsible approach. They must consider how to prevent the misuse of artificial intelligence for criminal purposes.

Today, we discussed fake content, the unfortunate reality that criminals are exploiting artificial intelligence to breach citizens' wallets via messengers. Naturally, it is our duty to create systems that render this impossible.

Today, 15 countries are joining hands to ensure this endeavour is open and transparent and, as experts assert, to make artificial intelligence equitable and commensurate with the current state and demands of society.

May I begin the ceremony, Mr President?

Vladimir Putin: Please, with pleasure.

German Gref: Colleagues, please proceed.

(The ceremony to mark the establishment of the International Alliance on Artificial Intelligence, with participation from national associations of BRICS countries and other nations worldwide.)

Friends,

I would like to extend my congratulations to you all on the launch of the International Alliance on Artificial Intelligence, especially to BRICS countries, most of whom are present here today. I am grateful to each of you for your participation, for travelling from afar to attend the conference, for your work on the document, and for ensuring that it has been signed today.

I wish to thank all the participants and members of the alliance who have invested considerable effort into making this event a reality.

Mr President, I would like to express my gratitude for your unwavering commitment to technological development in our country, and I pledge that we will do everything within our power to keep our nation at the forefront.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much, Mr Gref, for organising these events. My thanks to our friends and guests at today's forum.

I congratulate you on this alliance treaty. The more alliances we forge, the brighter the future that awaits us all. Today, you have taken another step to ensure a better future for humanity.

Thank you and congratulations. Thank you very much.