Russian Banks To Start Working On AI Solutions With China
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According to a recent report by the Russian state news agency, TASS, the country’s largest bank, Sberbank, was ordered by Putin to collaborate with China on the development of AI-based services.
The report stated that the Russian president ordered the government and Sberbank to ensure further cooperation with China with a focus on technological research and development in the field of artificial intelligence.
Russia Seeks Banking Alternatives Outside The West
Russian decision to collaborate with China is not a major surprise, given the ongoing sanctions from most Western nations, which were introduced after Russia launched an attack on Ukraine.
With the matter still unresolved, the sanctions remain in place, and Russia has to seek allies and partners in other areas. Especially since the world’s major producers of microchips have stopped all exports to Russia.
About a month ago, in early December, Putin also made an announcement that Russia intends to team up with BRICS partners, to work on the development of an AI Alliance Network. The goal is to create and use the network to challenge the dominance of the Western nations, including the US.
With China being one of the BRICS members, it is no surprise that the two countries have started strengthening their ties and expanding them in new and emerging sectors such as AI.
It is also worth noting that Sberbank’s CEO, German Gref, conceded all the way back in 2023 that the bank was struggling to replace graphic processing units, which are a core part of the development of artificial intelligence.
With that said, this is also not the first time that Putin has sought allies among BRICS nations in an attempt to find or even develop alternatives to Western banking initiatives. Russia also requested an alternative to SWIFT, a major international payment system that most of the world’s banks still use to this day.
However, the news has been greeted with quite a lot of concern by many, including the former Chief of the National Bank of Ukraine, Kyrylo Shevchenko, who posted on X, stating that Russian partnership with China on AI development is “a ticking time bomb.”
He noted that Russia is ranking 31st in global AI innovation, following India and Brazil, and that it could try to weaponize artificial intelligence to reshape global power dynamics.
