Putin ordered his government apparatus on February 27th to formulate a national artificial intelligence strategy by June 25th. With that date quickly approaching, the world is waiting to see Russia’s AI plans.

Back in September 2017, Putin famously said the nation which leads in AI “will become the ruler of the world.” Understandably, Putin’s comments generated fear of a cold war-like rush to militarise AI technology.

The Russian leader’s most recent speech won’t help to ease those concerns after reiterating that AI offers unprecedented power, including military power, to any government that leads in the field.

“Mechanisms of artificial intelligence provide real-time fast decision-making based on the analysis of huge amounts of information, which gives tremendous advantages in quality and effectiveness,” he said. “If someone can provide a monopoly in the field of artificial intelligence, then the consequences are clear to all of us: he will rule the world.”

However, there appears to be some understanding from Russia’s president of the need for a level-headed approach to AI. Putin suggested his government needs to enshrine and protect citizens’ rights and new intellectual property.

Other key areas highlighted by Putin for Russia’s AI development include:

• Training initiatives
• Legislative support
• Public-private cooperation
• Efforts to advance Russia’s STEM strengths

Putin spoke of the need to ensure “the readiness of society, citizens for the widespread introduction of such technologies. It is, therefore, necessary to provide widespread digital education, to launch retraining programs.”

An increased need for AI funding was also touched upon. Putin said cash will need to be invested from both the state and investors through public-private cooperation.

“Russia should become one of the key platforms for solving complex scientific problems with the participation of scientists from around the world,” declared Putin.

“It is fundamentally important to tune our legislation to a new technological reality, quickly and efficiently form a flexible, adequate legal basis for the development and use of artificial intelligence-based application solutions, as well as special regimes for private investment in creating breakthrough solutions,” he said.

The overview of what’s forming the base of Russia’s AI strategy was provided by Putin during a May 30th speech.

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The station, Q13, broadcasted a doctored Trump speech in which he somehow appeared even more orange and pulled amusing faces.

You can see a side-by-side comparison with the original below:

Following the broadcast, a Q13 employee was sacked. It’s unclear if the worker created the clip or whether it was just allowed to air.

The video could be the first DeepFake to be televised, but it won’t be the last. Social media provides even less filtration and enables fake clips to spread with ease.

We’ve heard much about sophisticated disinformation campaigns. At one point, the US was arguably the most prominent creator of such campaigns to influence foreign decisions.

Russia, in particular, has been linked to vast disinformation campaigns. These have primarily targeted social media with things such as their infamous Twitter bots.

According to Pew Research, just five percent of Americans have ‘a lot of trust’ in the information they get from social media. This is much lower than in national and local news organisations.

It’s not difficult to imagine an explosion in doctored videos that appear like they’re coming from trusted outlets. Combining the reach of social media with the increased trust Americans have in traditional news organisations is a dangerous concept.

While the Trump video appears to be a bit of fun, the next could be used to influence an election or big policy decision. It’s a clear example of how AI is already creating new threats.

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Irakli started with a positive note that’s easily forgotten: never has the world been more safe, connected, and prosperous.

“We have developed technologies which have the potential to solve problems we never thought were possible,” says Beridze. “Most of them are related to the UN’s sustainable development goals.”

World-Changing Benefits

A look at the statistics provides evidence of a huge reduction in those dying from violence or living in extreme poverty. Many of the greatest threats we face today are shared challenges such as climate change, disease, and dwindling resources.

AI is a powerful tool which can help with all these challenges and more if we, as humankind, choose to use it this way. Alternatively, it could pose an existential threat.

Here are just some of the ways Beridze expects AI to aid the UN towards its goals:

Beridze dives deeper into some other potential benefits of AI to societies. A couple of the most interesting suggestions are its use to improve health and wellbeing, and to maintain peace, justice, and strong institutions.

Starting with health, Beridze highlights the use of AI to analyse large quantities of healthcare data in order to make scientific breakthroughs. Furthermore, it could be used to predict and project disease outbreaks to reduce mortality rates.

The impact of AI on healthcare is among our most covered subjects here on AI News. There are exciting developments on a near-daily basis.

Next up is the potential for AI when it comes to peace, law, and governance. Beridze believes AI can be integrated within an ‘e-government’ to reduce discrimination, prejudice, and corruption.

AI currently has a well-documented bias problem. However, solutions are becoming available to ensure the algorithms behind AIs are fair and do not favour any part of society over another. It’s ultimately easier to make a machine less discriminate than a person.

Global powers are seeking to establish themselves as leaders in AI. China and the US continue to be dominant by pumping billions of cash into developments, while smaller economies are playing to their own strengths.

Countries such as Japan are strong in fields such as robotics. The EU has the highest number of service robot manufacturing. Meanwhile, the UK is known for its leadership in ethics and strong academic attributes with leading universities.

There’s a now famous quote from Russian President Vladimir Putin speaking about AI which said: “Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world.”

Putin’s quote was received in many ways. Some believe it was simply a matter of fact, while others saw it as confirmation of a potentially reckless race between world powers to become a leader.

AI-as-a-Threat

Regardless of what states do, criminals will seek to exploit AI for their own gain. This could take many forms, but one clear example is that of impersonation.

During Google’s I/O conference this year, the company showed off its Duplex demo where an AI assistant called a hair salon on a user’s behalf and was convincing enough to pass for a human. By training such a system with someone else’s voice, fraud could be completely automated.

Beridze will be meeting with Interpol next month to discuss the new risks posed by criminals using artificial intelligence, and how law enforcement agencies can work to counter them.

“When talking about the good sides of AI, we should never forget about the possible risks,” warns Beridze. “One of the biggest risks is the pace of development with how quickly it’s being developed and how fast we can adapt to that.”

One major concern is the potential impact on jobs. Low-wage workers are particularly threatened by automation.

“We don’t really have any solutions,” Beridze says. “We have some ideas that have been put on the table such as; Universal Basic Income, retraining of the population, some even say to slow down the pace of innovation.”

Other concerns highlighted by Beridze includes automated weapons, superintelligent systems like SkyNet famously depicted in the Terminator movies, and using things such as bots to influence democratic processes.

Solving International Verification

One of the most interesting uses for AI is for the verification of incidents where nations do not trust each other. This has perhaps been seen most often between Western nations and Russia where there’s still a clear level of distrust.

Take the recent chemical attack in Salisbury, UK on a former spy and his daughter. Western nations agreed it could only have been carried out by Russia. For its part, Russia denies the allegations and claims to have been locked out of seeing any evidence.

Beridze served as a special projects officer at the OPCW (Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) prior to joining UNICRI.

The OPCW is an independent organisation working alongside the United Nations that investigates chemical attacks. Members of OPCW represent around 98 percent of the global population.

Until a ruling last week, the OPCW was prohibited from assigning blame for a chemical attack. In Salisbury, the organisation stated it agreed with the UK’s findings the nerve agent of the kind first developed by the Soviet Union.

There have also been multiple chemical attacks in Syria. One particularly devastating attack in Douma was to be investigated by the OPCW but investigators claim they were blocked from accessing the site by Syria and its Russian allies.

Investigators were eventually provided access over a week after. However, Chlorine – at least one of the suspected chemicals used – is notoriously difficult to detect even a day after because of its gaseous state.

Russia and Syria both reject claims that chemical weapons were used. Moscow has offered several narratives on Douma, claiming simultaneously that there never was an attack and that it was the work of rebels in the area.

France said it was likely the evidence is gone, and the USA accused Russia and Syria of tampering with the site.

When everyone is pointing the finger at each other, there needs to be independent verification. Whenever people are involved there’s nearly always some accusations of foul play.

A provably unbiased, open-source AI which examines the evidence could be the answer.

“The time has come where we should employ technologies like AI and blockchain to start verification of issues where countries do not trust each other,” says Beridze. “We need to make a major leap from a system created in the [19]40s, to 80 years down the road where we live in a completely different world.”

Beridze’s session highlighted both the near-limitless potential for AI to have a positive impact on the world, or it could just as easily be devastating.

One thing is for sure, AI will transform our world. For better or worse, that’s up to all of us.

You can watch our interview with Irakli Beridze below:

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What impact do you think AI will have on the world?

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Starting with the charter, Andrey Neznamov — head of Russian robot research centre, Robopravo — drew it up in response to fears machines possessing AI could lead to the “destruction of humanity” if they’re not sufficiently regulated.

To some, including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, these fears are overblown and scaremongering. Other great minds, including Stephen Hawking and Tesla founder Elon Musk, believe it’s a very real possibility.

“I sincerely believe that technology will make the world better, just there is a certain stage when lawyers will have to intervene,” says Neznamov. “On the one hand, we cannot allow the laws to prevent the development of technology, and on the other hand, we must not allow the destruction of humanity, which may happen as a result.”

One example Neznamov provides is an AI which controls the energy infrastructure of a country. It may not have malicious intent, but a failure could mean bringing the power grid down.

Another often provided example is an AI used in a military capacity for automated defense. Whereas it could be designed for things such as intercepting missiles, it could instead decide to launch its own preemptive strike on another country is more likely to keep its own citizens safe while not considering the devastation such a decision would create.

Part of what could result in rushed and dangerous militarised AI is the latest ‘arms race’ between the historical rivals of the US, Russia, and China.

It’s now widely accepted that AI will be used for warfare as powerful nations battle for better capabilities than others. Sometimes this competition is good, and drives groundbreaking advancements — such as in the ‘space race’ — but experts are concerned AI will be more likened to the nuclear arms race.

Back in September, AI News reported Russian President Vladimir Putin said the nation which leads in AI “will become the ruler of the world.” Earlier this month, we reported that researchers have begun sending letters to their respective leaders calling for a global stand against AI militarisation.

Robert Work, a former deputy US secretary of defence, has warned the US military must now decide if it wants to “lead the coming revolution, or fall victim to it”, amid emerging challenges from China and Russia.

Russian state media have reported on the military developing automated drones, vehicles, robots, and cruise missiles. China, meanwhile, has published a road map with its national plan to prioritise AI and use it for defense purposes.

A copy of the aforementioned ‘Robot Ethics Charter’ can be found here, but please note it’s currently only available in Russian.

Are you concerned about AI’s use in a military capacity?

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Musk, co-chairman of OpenAI, has long warned of dire consequences for mishandling AI development. OpenAI itself is a non-profit research company that aims to champion promoting and developing friendly AI in a way to benefit humanity.

As with any major technology advancement, however, there will undoubtedly be those which aim to weaponise it and to do so before rivals. Based on Putin’s comments to Russia-based publication RT, it sounds as if the nation is among them.

“Artificial intelligence is the future, not only for Russia, but for all humankind,” said Putin, in a report from RT. “It comes with colossal opportunities, but also threats that are difficult to predict. Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world.”

Musk tweeted his brief reaction to the news:

It begins … https://t.co/mbjw5hWC5J

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 4, 2017

Further responses to his tweet highlighted the concern about AI weapon systems. In particular, an AI which may decide a preemptive strike is the best option to prevent a threat from developing. The lack of human involvement in the decision also enables the blame to be mitigated.

Last week, AI News reported that China is catching up to the U.S. in artificial intelligence. Part of this rapid development is due to a significant increase in government support of core AI programs. China will increase spending to $22 billion in the next few years, with plans to spend nearly $60 billion per year by 2025.

Musk has also voiced concerns about this international competition for AI superiority:

China, Russia, soon all countries w strong computer science. Competition for AI superiority at national level most likely cause of WW3 imo.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 4, 2017

These recent developments further highlight the pressing need for regulations and open dialogue on AI development to ensure it benefits humanity rather than poses a threat.

See more: Experts believe AI will be weaponised in the next 12 months

Are you concerned about AI posing a threat? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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