Russia and BRICS Target US and China’s AI Lead With New Alliance

• Russia, BRICS partners and other countries are teaming up to develop, research and regulate AI.
• The move comes as the U.S. and China continue to battle for AI dominance globally.
• Russia has struggled to catch up in the AI race partly due to stringent export restrictions from the West.

Vladimir Putin has said  Russia will collaborate with BRICS partners and other countries to develop AI, marking a major push to counteract America’s lead on the emerging technology.

Announcing the new AI Alliance Network, the President said Russia must “participate on equal terms in the global race to create strong AI.”

Russia and BRICS Form AI Alliance

The new AI partnership will facilitate collaboration to research, regulate, and accelerate the technology, aiming to open more global markets to AI and its benefits.

“Russia must participate on equal terms in the global race to create strong artificial intelligence. It is precisely the advanced solutions that Russian scientists are currently working on,” Putin told an AI conference in Moscow.

“We invite scientists from all over the world to join in the collaboration,” he added.

On Wednesday, Dec. 11, Russia’s leading bank, Sberbank, said  the new group would include associations from Brazil, India, South Africa, China and other non-BRICS countries.

Alexander Vedyakhin, First Deputy Chairman of the Board of Sberbank, said in a statement  that AI could add 11.2 trillion rubles to Russia’s GDP by 2030.

“I am confident that Russia can significantly improve its current positions in international rankings by 2030 through its own developments and supportive regulation in the field of generative AI,” Vedyakhin told  Reuters.

Catching Up to the U.S.

Following the announcement, Putin highlighted the gap between Russia and the world’s top AI powers, the U.S. and China.

“The United States and China are the world’s top AI powers, and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has named a ‘White House AI and Crypto Czar’ to help ensure the United States remains the richest and most technologically advanced power in the world,” Putin told the AI conference, reported by local media.

Despite Russia’s efforts to develop its AI sector, the country faces significant challenges in closing the gap. U.S. sanctions targeting AI-related equipment, which impact both Russia and China, have limited the country’s access to critical components essential for AI growth.

Vedyakhin claimed that Russia was trailing behind the U.S. and China by six to nine months due to Western sanctions limiting its access to growing its computer power.

“The sanctions were aimed at limiting Russia’s computing power, but we are trying to compensate for the shortage with our talented scientists and engineers,” he told Reuters.

Trump’s AI Light Touch

President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to be bullish on AI and emerging technologies, promising to lift the previous administration’s “dangerous” regulations.

In Trump’s manifesto , he wrote, “We will repeal Joe Biden’s dangerous Executive Order that hinders AI Innovation, and imposes Radical Left-wing ideas on the development of this technology.”

In November, Trump appointed PayPal co-founder David Sacks as the new “White House AI and Crypto Czar.”

The President-elect said  Sacks would guide policy on AI and crypto, which were “two areas critical to the future of American competitiveness.”

A New Player in the AI Race

Russia’s announcement of a new AI Alliance Network is likely to bring a new dynamic to the head-to-head AI race between the U.S. and China.

BRICS nations like China, India, South Africa, and Brazil may begin to share resources and expertise in developing AI technologies tailored to their specific needs and markets.

If this successfully occurs, it will offer a way to partially sidestep the U.S. restrictions imposed on China and Russia, making the countries more competitive in the process.

At the same time, it is possible that firms currently relying on global supply chains could face an increased level of complexity, as new geopolitical tensions and competing AI regulations emerge.