Russia’s efforts to obtain China’s help in enhancing artificial intelligence is seen as a bid to challenge America’s lead in the field even as the outgoing Biden administration is expected to impose new export control measures to further curb Beijing’s access to AI chips.
As the new year began, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the country’s state-owned Sberbank, to work with China in researching and developing AI technology, according to the Kremlin.
“The Russian president sees his country in global competition for AI with the United States and has positioned the state resources to try and compete with the U.S. in information and cyberspace – two areas where artificial intelligence is supposed to aid Russia in what they see as Western narratives and influence,” said Samuel Bendett, adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.
Moscow views Beijing’s success in AI as an example to follow, and its “cooperation with China is viewed as a necessary step towards acquiring artificial intelligence-related skill sets, knowledge and technology,” Bendett told VOA in written comments.
The U.S. currently leads in AI innovation, followed by China, which is falling behind by wide margins, according to a November report by the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. Russia ranks 31st out of 83 countries in AI implementation, innovation and investment, according to U.K.-based Tortoise Media’s Global AI Index.
Response to sanctions
Western sanctions imposed on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022 have limited the country’s AI development, and Moscow has turned to Beijing to offset the restriction, according to Bendett in his report “The Role of AI in Russia’s Confrontation with the West.”
Sberbank, which Putin instructed to collaborate with China, is under Western sanctions.
It is Russia’s largest bank and leads the country’s AI development efforts.
The outgoing Biden administration is expected to impose a new set of export control measures aimed at further limiting China’s ability to access chips that support AI technology. The new measures could come as early as Friday, according to Bloomberg.
Sberbank CEO German Gref said in 2023 that Russia cannot obtain graphics processing units, microchips needed to support AI development, according to Reuters.
But the bank’s first deputy CEO, Alexander Vedyakhin, said in December that despite Western sanctions, Russia can improve its AI ranking by 2030 through its own development.
Another key area where Russia has sought to further apply AI help from China is in the military.
“There already have been top level meetings between Russia and Chinese militaries in 2024,” and “ongoing dialogue” between the defense ministries of the two countries is likely so they can understand “how AI could aid in a large-scale conventional conflict, like the one unfolding in Ukraine,” Bendett said.
Russian and Chinese officials met in Beijing early last year to discuss military application of AI, especially in developing autonomous weapons, according to Russia’s Foreign Ministry.
AI-powered weapons
In December, Ukraine said Russia began using AI-powered strike drones with improved capabilities that can evade air defenses, identify key targets and operate offline.
James Lewis, director of the Strategic Technologies Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Russia is likely to use AI technology on enhancing drones as well as in making weapons with improved target detection and attack speed.
The China-Russia AI partnership “creates new risk for the U.S.,” but military application of “AI won’t compensate for bad strategy” in the battlefield, he said.
Attending an AI conference in Moscow last month, Song Haitao, president of the Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, said China plans to sign an agreement with Russia’s Sberbank to promote bilateral cooperation on AI development.
Speaking at the conference, Putin applauded China for “making great strides” in advancing AI technology and its application, including in building “smart cities” and conducting “modern governance.”
Sam Bresnick, research fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, said although it is not entirely clear how Beijing might benefit from helping Moscow in developing AI, China might want some military technologies and wartime data from Russia in return.
“Russia is very good at making submarines, and there’s been a speculation in the past that China could benefit from acquiring that kind of technology. Another one is helicopter technology,” Bresnick said.
“The war in Ukraine has generated an astonishing amount of data,” Bresnick continued. “China would probably be interested in getting its hands on them because having more militarily relevant data from Russia would help China develop its own AI systems for military.”
Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, told VOA on Thursday that “in terms of the application of artificial intelligence, China actively advocates the principles of ‘people-oriented’ and ‘intelligent for good,’ ensuring that artificial intelligence is safe, reliable and controllable, better enabling global sustainable development, and enhancing the common well-being of all mankind.”
