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The future will be artificial & full of intelligence

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The future will be artificial & full of intelligence

Putin instructs Herman Gref to ensure Russia's AI-driven future

Edward Slavsquat
Jul 22, 2023
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The future will be artificial & full of intelligence

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Friendly banker Herman Gref (L) ; A GrefBot9000 harasses a lady (R)

Herman Gref, Russia’s favorite German technocrat, was summoned to the Kremlin on Wednesday as part of a summit hosted by “Russia—the Land of Opportunities”, an organization that aims to “ensure personal and professional self-realization of citizens of all ages.”

Herr Gref is a member of the group’s supervisory board, for reasons that should be completely obvious.

Sitting at a big table in Catherine Hall, President Vladimir Putin chatted pleasantly with the Sber CEO about “the future”:

Vladimir Putin: Herman Oskarovich, will artificial intelligence replace you as chairman of Sberbank?

Herman Gref: Vladimir Vladimirovich, I hope not in my lifetime, but everything is moving towards this.

Vladimir Putin: You see, progress is impossible with such people, everything will slow down now … We recently held an event [on AI]. Indeed, Sberbank has been doing a lot of work on this for a long time, for many years, right? How many? It’s been five years, at least.

Herman Gref: We have been running the AI ​​Journey for five years. In general, for about 12-13 years we have been investing a lot.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, we have invested a lot. Can you name this number? Tell.

Herman Gref: Every year we invest about a billion dollars in artificial intelligence technologies. We get back about three billion dollars a year from artificial intelligence.

Vladimir Putin: The scale is serious, so all efforts aimed at achieving specific goals in this area should, of course, be supported … This is the future …. this is the absolute future. In terms of importance for the country—for any country—this is no less significant than the nuclear or rocket project of the Soviet Union, which was carried out in the mid-1940s and 1950s. So, Herman Oskarovich, please pay attention, okay?

The “recent event” that Putin referred to was Sber’s AI Journey conference, which was held in November. Russia’s president told attendees at Sber’s autumn powwow:

Our next goal on the horizon of the current decade is to ensure broader introduction of artificial intelligence. It should penetrate all sectors of the economy, the social services, and the public administration system.

Mr. Gref and I spoke about this when he was still working in the Government, and it was Mr. Gref’s pet project—he never stopped talking about the need to transition to a new level of administration in general, as a whole.

There’s not much ambiguity here: Putin believes AI is the future, and Herman Gref’s Sber (“not a bank, but a whole universe of services”) should shepherd the Russian flock towards a brighter, AI-driven tomorrow.

Your correspondent is a true pragmatist, and a hardened realist: How could anyone expect Russia not to develop AI? As this blog has pointed out before, there is no stopping technology, unless you are Amish, or live in 16th-century Japan, when the country’s warlords briefly banned peasant soldiers from using firearms because they were killing too many noble samurai. You do not live in 16th-century Japan.

The problem is that Herman Gref cannot be trusted under any circumstances, and the fact that Putin has apparently knighted him Russia’s AI Baron is slightly worrisome.

The green checkmark that cares for all Russians

Edward Slavsquat
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December 7, 2021
The green checkmark that cares for all Russians

It’s a proven fact that economic conferences are massive snooze-fests where nothing of consequence is said or done; the “real talk” occurs in dimly lit rooms where central bankers and corporate monopolists smoke their sour apple vapes as they plot the global enslavement of every living creature and grain of sand. Tha…

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I’m sure AI can be used to do many useful things, like create neural networks that can deliver tacos to your door in under 15 minutes. But the potential for abuse is very great, and if Russia’s AI program is being steered by Gref, right out of the gate, that’s a huge red flag. That’s just my opinion, though.

There’s another issue here and it would be wrong not to address it: Putin is really into this digitalization stuff. He just is and that’s a fact.

For example, in November 2021 he proposed creating a unified database for “[biometric] data used in financial transactions”. For safety, security, and convenience, of course.

source

Surprise: A year later, Putin signed the for-profit, only-partially-controlled-by-the-Russian-government Unified Biometric System into law. Sber is a major player in Russia’s transition to biometrics, by the way.

Probably some of you are sick of reading about Gref and his deranged visions for Russia. But if you want to understand where Russia is headed, you gotta watch this weirdo like a hawk. He has a technocratic finger in every pelmeni, with the full approval of the Kremlin.

That’s not good. That’s bad.

Thank you for reading Edward Slavsquat. The Summer of Blog-Love Sub-Sale is ending in two weeks! $38 for 12 months of mind-expanding blog posts. Do you want to miss out on exclusive paywalled content (next installment coming soon)? No, I don’t think you do.

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The future will be artificial & full of intelligence

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The future will be artificial & full of intelligence

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J.-J.
Jul 22Liked by Edward Slavsquat

Riley, I forgot to thank you again for your regular surgical precise journalism. Honestly, there is simply no other source to get real info about what is going on in today's Russia.

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Charlotte Ruse
Jul 22

Interesting, how someone named Graft, oh I mean Gref would represent the height of corruption.😁

And it’s also fascinating how all the financial criminals worldwide are enamored by AI and all its numerous possibilities, especially the ways in which it'll further control discontented proles.🤑

Every new invention is touted as something that'll enhance humanity.😉

Weren't we told that television would enlighten and educate all populations, but turned into a "propaganda box." And wasn't the internet going to be a beacon for free speech, but devolved into another surveillance tool.

So if you actually believe AI is being developed to elevate humankind then you must also believe 95% of China's population are loyal believers in XI and during the 2020 US election "Basement Biden" received more votes than any other previous president.😁

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