MOSCOW, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- In a spacious hall showcasing Russia's latest advances in artificial intelligence (AI) technology, a humanoid robot named Green performed a short dance, captivating and impressing visitors.
Green, on display at the AI Journey international conference held on Nov. 19-21 in Moscow, marks a breakthrough in Russian robotics and physical AI. The robot, whose movements closely resemble human motions, is intended to assist people in both intellectual and physical tasks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the conference that AI is expected to be employed on a large scale across key sectors such as industry, transportation, healthcare, and public administration.
Green is developed by Sberbank, Russia's largest bank and one of the most influential technology players. It is Sberbank's first humanoid robot powered by the GigaChat neural network, the company's large-scale generative AI model.
"This is our first humanoid robot that can operate in an unknown environment," Sberbank CEO German Gref said. Green is designed to become smarter with each iteration of GigaChat and be competent in sectors including manufacturing, retail, and food service.
Such technologies are ultimately aimed at making people's lives easier and happier, improving access to healthcare and education, and enabling fully digital public services, Gref said.
A personalized digital health assistant that collects data and helps detect potential health risks in daily life may not be far off for Russians given fast advancements in generative AI.
Russian tech giant Yandex has been developing medical AI systems designed to accelerate quantitative insights for professionals, said Yulia Busygina, Yandex's healthcare project manager. The company's infant magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) analysis tool is among Russia's first AI solutions aimed at children.
"For pediatric care in particular, data security standards are extremely high, and global tools are limited," she said.
Yandex teams are focusing on children's health, maternal health and oncology, with early results of generative AI for medical imaging set to be released next year.
State-backed healthcare initiatives are advancing in parallel in Russia. Nearly 2,000 medical institutions across more than 70 regions in the country have joined Moscow's digital healthcare platform, allowing doctors nationwide to use AI algorithms to automatically analyze radiology results and other medical data, showed official data.
The creative industry is emerging as another frontier. "As AI transforms every aspect of our lives, creative sectors from marketing to film-making are among the first to feel the impact," said Vladislav Kreinin, head of marketing and public relations at Sberbank.
In June, the world's first opera co-composed by humans and AI, a revival of Russia's great composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky's unfinished Mandragora, was staged as a highlight of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
AI EDUCATION
Earlier this year, Russia's Science and Higher Education Minister Valery Falkov announced national plans to integrate dedicated AI modules into all university programs.
AI training will be compulsory for all students, whether they plan to be biologists, lawyers, or journalists, Falkov said.
While Russia's younger generation has widely adopted neural networks and language models for studying and daily tasks, Putin cautioned that Russia's education systems must ensure AI does not create "a class of super-intellectual elites, while everyone else becomes button-pushers."
In Russia, the demand for AI talent is intense, as "industry is moving beyond simple automation toward systems that can operate independently," Evgeny Burnaev, the head of AI Center at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, or Skoltech, said.
The Skoltech center now employs more than 300 researchers working on theoretical and applied AI, including generative models and hybrid modeling for industries such as energy and transportation. ■
