AI called up for civil service – Newspaper Kommersant No. 167 (7368) of 09/12/2022

The White House has transferred oversight of the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in the public sector and in sectors of the economy from the Analytical Center under the Government of the Higher School of Economics (NRU HSE). The National Center for the Development of Artificial Intelligence under the Government, created on the basis of this university, was tasked with becoming a platform for selecting AI solutions for business, science and the state, examining documents on the regulation of this area, as well as expert support for the introduction of AI in public administration and in sectors of the economy.

The press service of the White House announced the launch of the National Center for the Development of Artificial Intelligence under the Government of the Russian Federation with reference to Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko. The structure created on the basis of the National Research University Higher School of Economics will become one of the tools for implementing the National Strategy for the Development of AI and the federal project “Artificial Intelligence” of the national program “Digital Economy”. As conceived by the White House, the center will become a platform for selecting AI solutions for business, science and the state, will monitor the development of AI and examine documents on the regulation of this area. Other tasks assigned to him are expert support for the implementation of AI in industries and the public sector, as well as compiling an index of readiness for the implementation of this technology.

It should be noted that until August 31 this year, support for the federal project and the national AI strategy was carried out by a structural unit of the Analytical Center (AC) under the government – the Center of Expertise for the implementation of the AI ​​federal project (the decision on its creation was signed by the head of the White House, Mikhail Mishustin, in July last year). According to a Kommersant source familiar with the situation, we are talking about “the next iteration of the development of the Center of Expertise.” The new division will be headed by the former head of the Center for Expertise and deputy head of the AC Sergey Nakvasin. Budget subsidies “for AI” are now available to the National Research University Higher School of Economics — drafts of relevant government decrees prepared by the Ministry of Economy have already been posted on the regulation.gov.ru portal.

As Alexander Vedyakhin, First Deputy Chairman of the Board of Sberbank, reminded Kommersant, Sber, as a center of competence for the federal project Artificial Intelligence, is actively cooperating with the government in implementing the National AI Development Strategy. According to him, the new center will become an important platform for discussing measures of state support for these technologies and their effective use. Aleksey Sidoryuk, Director for Digital Transformation of Industries at ANO Tsifrovaya ekonomika, added that “the opening of the center will allow consolidating competencies in terms of technology and domestic AI solutions, and will also create additional incentives for the dissemination of these solutions in industries and regions.”

As previously reported, by October, the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Digital Development intended to update the plan for the introduction of AI in key sectors of the economy. In addition, this year it is expected to create a rating of federal authorities, reflecting the progress of their implementation of this technology in their activities. Apparently, after that, similar tools will be applied to the regions. In the meantime, as noted in a previously presented report by the Center for Strategic Research on this topic, AI-based solutions for the public sector in the Russian regions largely remain “abstract, obscure and distant entities that have almost no applied value for solving current problems of managing the socio-economic situation” (for more details, see “Kommersant” dated May 23).

Venera Petrova