The Ministry of Economics proposed to oblige companies to implement AI when receiving state support

The Ministry of Economic Development proposed to make the acquisition and use of solutions with artificial intelligence (AI) mandatory when businesses receive subsidies above a certain amount. This was stated by Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov during a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and the government.

“The introduction of artificial intelligence should become one of the conditions for providing state support to companies,” the minister said. The Ministry of Economic Development has already agreed with the Ministry of Finance on the conditions for conducting a pilot project in several sectors of the economy starting next year: agriculture, transport, industry and healthcare, Reshetnikov added.

According to the minister, the AI ​​product market grew by 18% in 2022 to RUB 650 billion.

The minister mentioned several barriers to the further implementation of artificial intelligence in enterprises. In particular, this concerns the lack of IT specialists, or lack of funds for the technology and its integration into the production process. The Ministry of Economic Development plans to contribute to the solution of these problems through the finalization of grant programs of the federal project “Artificial Intelligence”, the minister noted.

Reshetnikov also drew attention to the development of the academic direction. So, on the basis of leading universities and scientific organizations, 6 research centers have been created. 5.4 billion rubles were allocated for their scientific activities in the field of artificial intelligence. for 4 years. On the basis of universities, new research centers will continue to open. In addition, the introduction of artificial intelligence programs in the entire education system is being prepared. According to the minister, AI is already being taught in schools in 52 regions.

In the context of increasing international competition in the field of AI, the minister proposed to solve the following tasks: to create conditions for creating their own supercomputers, to support scientists and young companies through grants, to estimate the costs of researchers and create a monitoring system to prioritize spending on science, and to delineate responsibility for the development and use neural networks.

“In general, Russia is moving in line with global trends in the development of artificial intelligence,” Reshetnikov said.