Artificial intelligence is not about hype and it will not “fade away” over time, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a plenary session of the international online conference Artificial Intelligence Journey (AI Journey), TASS writes.
“We are allocating serious resources, both financial and administrative ones, on creation and development of technologies. It is not about spending these funds, purchasing high-status gadgets and other household appliances. Artificial intelligence is not about a so-called fashion hype or a prestigious trend, that will fade away, vanish tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. No, this will not happen,” the president noted.
He recalled that “global history knows many cases when large, global corporations and even countries literally slept through a technological breakthrough and were swept off the historical stage overnight.”
“We must remember this. I want my colleagues in ministries, departments, regions of the Russian Federation, in state companies, research centers and universities to hear me now: we have to tackle issues of a fundamentally new level of complexity,” the head of state said.
Putin added that “this is a difficult exam for the many,” which puts their ability “to abandon threadbare ideas, patterns and stereotypes” and to be ready “to change, learn and lead” to the test.
But at the same time, the current situation is “an inspiring challenge” for “strong, courageous and modern managers, entrepreneurs and engineers.”
The head of state added that the planned digital transformation will affect every person and all levels of government in Russia. “Our country at different stages successfully solved ambitious tasks of technological and spatial development, building railways at a unique pace at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries and carrying out electrification in the 1920s and 1930s.
But our plans for bringing artificial intelligence and digital transformation into the mainstream are unparalleled in terms of the depth of changes they entail in all spheres. They will really affect every person, every family, every sector of the economy and social sphere, every organization and every level of government, the entire system of government,” Putin said.
