Russian leader Putin tells government and top bank to work with China on AI

President calls for further cooperation ‘in technological research and development of artificial intelligence’

Reading Time:2 minutes

Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the AI Journey tech conference in Moscow on December 11. Putin has called for more cooperation with China to develop the technology. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 5:00pm, 2 Jan 2025

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for more cooperation with China to develop artificial intelligence, as both nations try to gain a stronger foothold in the new tech frontier amid pressure from the US.

In a Kremlin document dated Monday, Putin ordered the Russian government and the country’s biggest lender Sberbank to “ensure further cooperation with the People’s Republic of China in technological research and development of artificial intelligence”.

He also told the government and the bank, which is leading the development of AI in Russia, to consider publishing an international journal to cover advances in artificial intelligence in the country.

Putin assigned the task to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Sberbank chief executive German Gref, with a progress report expected by April.

It comes three weeks after the AI Journey tech conference was held in Moscow, when Putin said Russia would work with Brics partners and other nations to develop the technology.

“China is making great strides in its technological development and is using vital instruments for its development,” Putin said at the conference on December 11. “Artificial intelligence … is one of these crucial instruments.”