Russia Is Making Its Own Chabot Called GigaChat

Sberbank, Russia’s largest lender, has announced the release of GigaChat, a new AI chatbot technology that aims to rival ChatGPT. Although GigaChat is currently in invite-only testing mode, it is expected to soon be a challenger in the AI chatbot market.

The release of ChatGPT by Microsoft-backed startup OpenAI in 2022 has spurred a race in the tech industry to develop more accessible and intuitive AI technology. Sberbank’s foray into this space comes at a time when Russian businesses are looking to reduce their reliance on foreign technology.

Russia’s dominant bank has invested heavily in technology in recent years, seeking to reduce the country’s reliance on imports, a process that has become critically important as Western nations have slashed exports to Russia and imposed punitive sanctions over Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.

What sets GigaChat apart from its competitors, according to Sberbank, is its superior ability to communicate more intelligently in the Russian language than other foreign neural networks. This is particularly important for a country like Russia, where a significant portion of the population prefers to communicate in Russian.

Sberbank’s move into AI technology is part of a broader effort by the bank to reduce Russia’s reliance on imports, a process that has become more critical as Western nations have imposed sanctions on Russia over its actions in Ukraine. The bank has invested heavily in technology in recent years and hopes GigaChat will help drive innovation and transform how people work and conduct business in Russia.

Reducing Russia’s reliance on foreign exports has recently become a critical issue as Western nations impose punitive sanctions on the nation due to its invasion of Ukraine. Many foreign nations, led by the United States, have also slashed exports to Russia.

The introduction of ChatGPT, a chatbot developed by OpenAI with support from Microsoft, in the previous year has sparked a race in the tech industry to make artificial intelligence more accessible to a wider audience. The objective, as per Reuters, is to revolutionize the way people operate and generate profits in the process.

Apart from Russia, China too has launched its own versions of an AI-based chatbot. Baidu’s Ernie and Alibaba’s Tongyi Qianwen chatbots like Russia’s GigaChat have the capability to communicate in the country’s native dialects. Recently, tech mogul and Twitter CEO Elon Musk also announced that he is working on an alternative to ChatGPT; as per reports, he has named it “TruthGPT” and it will act as a “maximum truth-seeking AI.”