Russia and Belarus are planning to jointly develop an artificial intelligence system grounded in what officials describe as “traditional values,” Belarusian state news agency BelTA reported Friday.
“The aim is to develop a sovereign AI system that can be trusted, relied upon, and that provides objective information,” said Sergei Glazyev, secretary of the supranational Union State bloc to which Russia and Belarus belong.
Glazyev warned that younger generations are increasingly “vulnerable to manipulation” by foreign AI models, particularly those developed in the U.S. and China.
“Recent deep testing of Western-type artificial intelligence revealed that one prominent chatbot had demonstrated racist and extremist tendencies, including the glorification of fascism,” Glazyev without providing specific examples or evidence.
The goal, Glazyev said, is to support entrepreneurship and innovation while preserving “fundamental and traditional values.”
While he did not clarify what he meant by traditional values, Glazyev argued that entrepreneurship without these values becomes “destructive, senseless and harmful.”
The announcement comes amid growing efforts by Moscow and Minsk to assert technological and ideological independence from the West. Since the invasion of Ukraine and the imposition of sweeping sanctions, Russia in particular has accelerated its push for digital sovereignty.
At the same time, independent researchers have raised questions about the transparency and openness of Russian-developed AI systems.
A recent study by Ghent University in Belgium found that Russia’s largest language models, YandexGPT and GigaChat, exhibited the highest levels of political censorship among 14 leading AI models globally, including those from China.
The researchers found that the Russian models routinely avoided answering politically sensitive questions, often responding that they were unable to discuss certain topics or suggesting users consult other sources.
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