Yandex plans to adapt its products for Arab countries

Yandex intends to present its products using the YandexGPT neural network in Arabic in the Middle East in the coming months. The company, which is preparing to separate part of its international business, is currently represented in the UAE only by a number of legal entities developing logistics and publishing mobile applications. In the area of ​​services for companies, Yandex is considering the possibility of developing specialized neural networks and tools for support services in the region. Experts believe that it is the emphasis on niche services that will allow the company to compete with OpenAI and Google.

Yandex plans to enter the Arab market of the Middle East with localized products in the next six months, said Dmitry Masyuk, director of the company’s search and advertising technology business group, during the Practical ML Conf. The Yandex press service clarified to Kommersant that we are talking about “various products using YandexGPT,” without naming the development.

“We have specific plans to appear in the Middle East in the next six months. It’s clear that without Arabic it’s difficult. And in the coming months, quarters at most, we will adapt products and technologies,” said Mr. Masyuk. The map, which was displayed on the slides at this time of the presentation, marked the areas corresponding to the borders of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and Oman.

During the conference, Yandex presented the second version of the YandexGPT neural network – it, in particular, is capable of generating answers in different styles, genres and analyzing texts. According to Mr. Masyuk, with regard to providing access to YandexGPT to business, the company focuses on three areas: access to the neural network through a program interface (API), tools for support and sales services, and a development automation tool (see “Kommersant” dated September 1).

In the future, we may talk “not only about the implementation of our products, but also the creation of new entities” – for example, specialized neural networks for legal or medical purposes, Mr. Masyuk added.

Yandex does not yet have search or content services localized for Arab countries in the Middle East. In February 2022, before the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, Yandex launched in the UAE an international analogue of the logistics service “Yandex Routing” under the RouteQ brand.

Now the RouteQ website says that the service is provided in all countries except the US, UK, EU countries and embargoed states. Also in January 2022, Direct Cursus Computer Systems Trading was registered in the UAE, which is listed as the publisher of a number of Yandex mobile applications (Yandex Browser, Yandex Maps, etc.) and the foreign operator of the AppMetrica analytics platform.

The Dutch Yandex NV, which is still the parent structure of Yandex, in November 2022 expressed its intention to independently develop international business in a number of areas: data tagging, unmanned vehicles, educational projects and cloud business. These plans have not changed, confirms Kommersant’s interlocutor close to one of the parties to the deal. In reporting to investors, Yandex promises to provide a plan for the division of businesses by the end of the year.

But Yandex NV is unlikely to strengthen its presence in the Middle East and North Africa – its priority will be business development in current markets, says Karen Kazaryan, CEO of the Internet Research Institute. He admits that when dividing assets, the distribution of potential markets will also be discussed: “Since many issues that relate to intellectual property will likely be structured through licensing and transfer of rights, indicating geographical zones seems logical.”

Yandex will have enough technical resources to present a competitive product in the Middle East markets, says Ivan Bolgar, head of REWTAS at CorpSoft24: “But difficulties may arise regarding the localization of the language model. Competitors such as Amazon, Google and OpenAI are certainly interested in working in the region at full capacity.” In his opinion, it is logical for Yandex to concentrate on developing products for specific tasks, rather than the mass segment: “It will be difficult to compete with ChatGPT.”

In Saudi Arabia, a company can take advantage of the need to digitalize the work of government agencies, says Larisa Malkova, managing director of the Data and Applied Artificial Intelligence practice at Axenix. She also believes that developments in the field of machine learning will be useful in projects related to the construction of “smart” cities.

Yuri Litvinenko