Artificial Intelligence Journey, a major Eastern European forum on artificial intelligence that was organized by Sberbank and other prominent companies, recently concluded in Moscow. The Roscongress Foundation was a partner for the event’s organization. AI Journey is a new platform for exchanging views and obtaining pertinent information about artificial intelligence and its use in Russia and abroad. The Forum was attended by over 5,000 people from 20 countries.
Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the
Forum’s plenary session. «I would like to thank all those who contributed to
the drafting and approval of the National Strategy for the Development of
Artificial Intelligence. It outlines our tasks for the coming decade. It is
important to act now as quickly as possible by pooling the efforts of the
state, the professional community, and business to transform plans into real
solutions, innovations, competitive products for which there is demand, and our
agencies, corporations and companies with state participation bear the greatest
responsibility for this. I believe the key criterion of their effectiveness is
their ability to ensure and enhance the technological viability of the nation»,
Putin said.
The participants in the AI Journey Forum
discussed further steps to implement the National Strategy for the Development
of Artificial Intelligence, which was approved and adopted by a decree of the
Russian President. «Implementing the National Strategy for the Development of
Artificial Intelligence will improve Russians’ quality of life and bolster the
country’s position on the global technology market. We will support leading
Russian companies that are developing innovative projects using artificial
intelligence technologies», Adviser to the Russian President Anton Kobyakov
said.
Sberbank, Gazprom Neft, Yandex, Mail.ru Group,
MTS, and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF — a sovereign fund of the
Russian Federation) announced during the Forum that they had concluded a cooperation
agreement that envisages the creation of the AI-Russia Alliance. «The alliance
that has been created will enable all its members to pool their knowledge and
technologies in order to develop expertise in artificial intelligence. This
will expand the opportunities for using AI technologies in the activities of
companies and the state as a whole and will contribute to the implementation
and promotion of the national strategy that was adopted by Russian President
Vladimir Putin and the Government of the Russian Federation», Sberbank
President and Chairman of the Management Board Herman Gref said.
The second day of the Artificial Intelligence
Journey conference opened with a panel discussion titled ‘Social AI:
Technologies to Benefit Society’. The discussion was moderated by Sberbank
First Deputy Chairman of the Management Board Alexander Vedyakhin. The speakers
included: Russian Minister of Economic Development Maxim Oreshkin, Special
Representative of the Russian President on Digital and Technological Development
Dmitry Peskov, Cognitive Technologies Founder and President Olga Uskova, and
others. The discussion participants talked about the main concerns associated
with the use of artificial intelligence, primarily potential job cuts as well
as the possibility of critical errors and failures. The speakers said Russia
should not expect any mass unemployment in the coming years due to the
introduction of AI, but they noted that experts in all professions need to work
seriously on their own self-instruction in order to remain competitive in the
medium and long term.
The Forum featured a presentation of Russia’s
most productive supercomputer Christofari, which was named after the first
client of Russia’s savings bank book Nikolay Christofari. Christofari supercomputer
resources will be available to users of the SberCloud service. Having the
supercomputer’s resources available in the cloud will give users the
opportunity to develop and use artificial intelligence algorithms as
conveniently and quickly as possible.
The results of an international online contest
were announced at the AI Journey Forum. The contestants had to develop an
algorithm that can correctly answer questions on an examination test based on
information from open sources. The contest aims to bring us closer to the creation
of Artificial General Intelligence that is on par with human intelligence and
capable of solving numerous diverse problems. The contestants included 350
people from 14 countries who represented 98 teams and generated more than 2,300
solutions. The total prize fund amounted to RUB 3 million, with RUB 1 million
awarded to the winner, RUB 500,000 to the silver medallist, and RUB 300,000 to
the bronze medallist. Cash prizes were awarded to the top ten teams as well as
winners in the special nominations ‘Best Essay Results’ and ‘Best Test Results’.
Photo source: en.kremlin.ru/
