The most notable events in
AI regulation, accessibility and security of personal data, slowdown of unmanned
vehicles development and other topics of the issue - ICT.Moscow has collected
the most important news about artificial intelligence in August from the
<a target="_blank" href="https://t.me/ict_moscow_ai">@ict_moscow_ai</a> telegram feed in one digest.

<hr />
<h2>
 The Federal project and
the Concept of regulation were approved
</h2>

 
 AI regulation was
mentioned most often in the news items in August. Vladimir Putin’s order to finalize
the federal project “Artificial Intelligence” until the end of summer was
fulfilled - at the end of August, the passport of the project was <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/artificial-intelligence-federal-project-was-approved/">approved</a>.

 
 The work on the Concept of
the regulation of AI and robotics until 2024 was <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/concept-for-the-regulation-of-artificial-intelligence-and-robotics-until-2024-has-been-approved/">completed</a>. It determines the
main areas in the domestic regulation, which require improvement in the next
four years.

 
 Work is underway to
regulate the field of personal data. In particular, it was announced that the
relevant law could be amended to provide for a data anonymization mechanism. A
companion law to the law “on experimental legal regimes” has also been
developed. It will allow to collect and analyze data in order to create and
implement medical AI systems. The systems will be developed in accordance with
the national standard, the first version of which was also presented in August.

<hr />
<h2>
 Readiness of state-owned
companies to implement AI
</h2>

 
 The participation of the
government in the development of artificial intelligence is not limited to
regulation only. Several state-owned companies have announced their readiness
to use artificial intelligence for solving their problems.

 
 For example, the Federal
Agency on Press and Mass Communications (Rospechat’) proposed to the Ministry
of Telecom and Mass Communications creating a data service based on AI, which
will check the reliability of news. The Federal Service for Supervision of
Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) plans to
use AI to combat prohibited Internet content. The Federal Labor and Employment
Service (Rostrud)<a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/rostrud-creates-a-job-placement-system-using-ai/"> plans</a> to create a recommendation service for finding suitable
vacancies based on the “Jobs in Russia” database.

<hr />
<h2>
 Unmanned vehicles slowed
down
</h2>

 
 The issue of unmanned
vehicles regulation should have been clarified by the end of the summer - it
was expected that Vladimir Putin would consider a revised roadmap for the
introduction of this type of transport in Russia. Whether it happened or not is
unknown, but in any case, the previously determined time frames are shifted
again: tests of unmanned cars without drivers in Russia were <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/self-driving-car-testing-is-postponed-until-2021/">postponed</a> until
2021.

 
 Meanwhile, Yandex decided
not to wait until Russian law would allow driving on public roads without a
person driving, and <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/yandex-begins-testing-self-driving-cars-in-michigan/">starte</a>d to test self-driving cars in Michigan. The
legislation of the state allows to use cars without the a driver or engineer at
the wheel.

 
 According to the survey
conducted by NTI “Autonet”, 77% of adult Russians are ready to use unmanned
taxis as soon as they appear on public roads. ICT.Moscow <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/self-driving-taxis-are-more-expected-in-russia-than-in-the-usa/">compared</a> the data with
other studies in this area. The results are as follows:

<ul>
 <li>within one year, the readiness of Russians for
unmanned vehicles has grown significantly - from 60% to 77%;</li>
</ul>

<ul>
 <li>readiness for autonomous transport in Russia is
noticeably higher than in several other countries - for example, in the USA.</li>
</ul>

<div>
 <img alt="" data-openpopup="0"
 src="https://ict.moscow/static/1200x/f6c70673-b8f1-50da-8237-f6393cc9b9db.png">
</div>

<hr />
<h2>
 Sberbank ecosystem’s
achievements
</h2>

 
 Self-driving vehicles have
yet to become a significant part of the ecosystems of Russian companies.
However, even without autonomous cars, the area is being developed quite
actively. Against this background, Sberbank could come into the spotlight on
the international arena in August.

 
 Earlier in August,
Sberbank <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/sberbank-was-named-the-best-bank-of-central-and-eastern-europe-for-innovation-in-digital-banking/">was named</a> the best bank in Central and Eastern Europe for digital
banking innovation. One of the projects for which the bank received the award
was its biometric facial recognition system. It is being implemented in the
company’s ATMs.

 
 VisionLabs, a part of the
Sberbank ecosystem that also develops face recognition algorithms, <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/visionlabs-was-ranked-first-in-nist-facial-recognition-algorithm-test/">took</a>&nbsp;first
place in the testing, that was conducted by the US National Institute of
Standards and Technology, for the third time. The purpose of testing was to
determine the most universal algorithms that can work in different application
scenarios.

 
 In August, ICT.Moscow
<a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/specific-features-of-russian-ecosystems/">studied</a> the development of the ecosystems of Sberbank and its main competitors,
Yandex and Mail.ru Group, since November 2019, and the role that AI <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/role-of-ai-in-the-development-of-the-largest-ecosystems/">plays</a> in
these ecosystems. Artificial intelligence-related publications about Sberbank were
published most often: 32 out of 86 publications included in the monitoring of
ecosystems were dedicated to this company (while 25 out of 81 materials were
about Yandex, and 18 out of 75 were related to Mail.ru Group).

<hr />
<h2>
 An increase in AI
mentions in the context of ecosystems and cities
</h2>

 
 At the end of July,
Yandex<a target="_blank" href="https://yandex.ru/company/researches/2020/ai-news"> published</a> a study on AI headlines over the past 10 years. ICT.Moscow
<a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/research-the-most-notable-in-ai-news-headlines-in-russia-over-the-past-10-years/">studied</a> Yandex data and identified several patterns. These trends are as
follows

<ul>
 <li>&nbsp;the most rapid growth in mentions of AI in headlines was
in 2016-2018. During that period, major players of the IT market, such as Sberbank
and Yandex, started to be actively mentioned in the news items;</li>
</ul>

<ul>
 <li>so far, 2020 shows a negative trend in AI mentions in the
news headlines (for the first time in 10 years);</li>
</ul>

<ul>
 <li>however, Moscow is mentioned much more often this year
than before (approximately a half of one thousand news items were from 2020),
and the capital is mentioned more often than other cities.</li>
</ul>

<div>
 <img alt="" data-openpopup="0"
 src="https://ict.moscow/static/1200x/07f66cd5-c898-51e8-b458-38449c101815.jpeg">
</div>

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/ai-digest-august20/">Original (in Russian)</a>

ICT.Moscow

Digest about AI in Russia: top news in August

Deep
Longevity was created in August after splitting off from Insilico MedTech company. The team focused on LaaS (“longevity
as a service”) and was working in the following areas

<ul>
 <li>development of AI systems to monitor
the aging of the body at different levels (molecular, cellular, systemic,
etc.);</li>
</ul>

<ul>
 <li>development of medical decision support systems aimed at slowing down and
reversing the aging processes;</li>
</ul>

<ul>
 <li>development of markers that would allow to track the biological age of a person.</li>
</ul>

 
 Several weeks after the launch, Deep Longevity was acquired by
investment company Regent Pacific for $3.79 million. The Hong Kong corporation
plans to build its own ecosystem on the basis of Deep Longevity. Investors' interest in AI startups in the fight against aging can be described as a trend: a month ago, Gero<a href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/russian-biotech-startup-gero-has-raised-investment/" target="_blank"> attracted</a> $ 2.2 million in investments.  

 
 Insilico and Gero in May <a href="https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=0LWyKq8YoEqQEMtp0Me5L28Ll1u1xJRJrDst9QcAzx1UOTNUUUxDM1BNQzRVNVpUOTdaTk5ENEIxSi4u&amp;fbclid=IwAR0H6W2bBcQ5-Nzil3RD64-CRsEPXl-VMuq7tH61gFmnt19i2uwxnF4-W3g" target="_blank">entered</a> the international list of 100 AI startups compiled by AI Venture Labs, whose developments can be applied in the fight against COVID-19.

 
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/medtech-startap-v-sfere-ii-deep-longevity-priobreten-gonkongskoi-investitsionnoi-kompaniei-regent-pacific/" target="_blank">Original (in Russian)</a>

Bloomberg

Deep Longevity MedTech AI startup was acquired by Hong Kong investment company Regent Pacific

Moscow 24

An AI system for monitoring online exams has been tested in Moscow

According to the estimates of the Association of Communication Agencies of Russia (AKAR), Internet advertising expenses in the first half of the year decreased by 1% and amounted to 108-109 billion rubles (roughly $1,4 billion). In the second quarter, they decreased by almost 9%, to 53 billion rubles ($700 million).

 
 In general, the income of advertisers in April-June decreased compared to the same period last year by 22%, to 90-91 billion rubles. ( $1,2 billion). In the first half of the year - by 9%, to 205-207 billion rubles. ($2,7 billion).

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/issledovanie-raskhody-na-reklamu-v-internete-snizilis-na-1-za-pervuiu-polovinu-goda/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Association of Communication Agencies of Russia (AKAR)

Research: Online ad spending fell 1% in the first half of the year

The project is still at an early stage, and the developers <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/576961855845861/posts/1563676247174412/">invite</a>&nbsp;everyone who wants to take part in the testing - to communicate with the chatbot and leave feedback on its work.

 
 In the next few months, the developers promise to release the code for the natural language processing (NLP) models for the chatbot, as well as its skills. In the future, the authors of the project expect to develop an open source "conversational" operating system built on AI.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/card/deeppavlov/">DeepPavlov</a> card on ICT.Moscow

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/deeppavlov-zapustil-demo-versiiu-razgovornogo-chat-bota-dream/">Original (in Russian)</a>

DeepPavlov

DeepPavlov has launched a demo version of the conversational chatbot Dream

X5 Retail Group developed and implemented a unified customer identification system called X5 ID. It is an account that allows to use the services of the retailer and trade networks after one-time registration.

 
 To create a X5 ID account, the user enters a phone number and consents to the processing of personal data. Then the user can add his full name, date of birth and email to his profile. The system does not require mandatory linking of bank cards.

 
 X5 ID will be used by the company, its retailers and business units to identify the users of their products. According to Igor Shekhterman, CEO of X5 Retail Group, a single ID will become a functional base for the company to launch new services from all X5 networks, a universal user gateway and a basis for the development of customer services.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/x5-retail-group-vnedrila-edinuiu-sistemu-identifikatsii-pokupatelia/">Original (in Russian)</a>

TAdviser

X5 Retail Group implemented a unified customer identification system

The Department for Transport and Road Infrastructure of Moscow <a target="_blank" href="https://t.me/DtRoad/4042">reports</a>&nbsp;via its Telegram channel that the video surveillance cameras installed in the metro will monitor the crowdedness in metro cars. The information will be available in the city mobile applications, and the passengers can choose the car with less people, the agency explains.

 
 Moreover, by the end of the month one of stages of the FacePay system testing will be completed. The system is intended for paying passage in public transport using face scanning.

 
 The video surveillance system started operating at all stations on September 1. The cameras have been installed in the metro since the spring of 2019.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/deptrans-sistema-videonabliudeniia-v-metro-budet-otslezhivat-zagruzhennost-poezdov/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Moscow Department of Transport

The Department for Transport and Road Infrastructure: Metro video surveillance system will monitor the crowdedness of metro cars

Russian Railways started to test the first trains with artificial intelligence.

 
 Locomotives for testing are equipped with Cognitive Rail Pilot system. It is aimed at reducing the number of accidents on railways: it uses computer vision to detect objects on the rail tracks (other trains, points, tracks, people, traffic lights, etc.), assesses the situation, informs the driver about the danger, and, if the driver does not respond, the system can make necessary decisions.

<div class="incut-block ">
 
 We have already produced 10 developmental locomotives (with AI), they were sent to Russian Railways for testing. Currently, one of the testing stages for product certification is underway. If it all works out, the safety on the railway will change. Artificial Intelligence will minimize the number of accidents that happened because of human errors, it will not allow the human to make a mistake.
 
 <div class="quote-owner">
 <div>
 
 Olga Uskova
 
 CEO of Cognitive Pilot
 </div>
 </div>
</div>
 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/rzhd-pristupila-k-testirovaniiu-poezdov-s-iskusstvennym-intellektom/">Original (in Russian)</a>

TASS

Russian Railways started testing trains with artificial intelligence

Firrma

Moscow Seed Fund invests $6 thousand in Dragon Family EdTech startup

Netflix streaming service&nbsp; will be completely localised in Russian five years after its launch in Russia, its operator in the Russian Federation will be the National Media Group, TASS reports.

 
 

According to Olga Paskina, General Director of NMG, the deal is part of the implementation of NMG's strategy to achieve leadership positions in the digital and content segments in Russia.

<a target="_blank" href="https://www.vedomosti.ru/business/articles/2020/09/02/838542-netflix-budet-razvivatsya-v-rossii-v-partnerstve-s-natsionalnoi-media-gruppoi">According to</a> Vedomosti, by the end of the year Netflix will have a completely Russian interface, many foreign TV series will be available with Russian subtitles and / or voice acting. Also, by the end of the year, about 100 domestic films will appear on the service.&nbsp;&nbsp;

<div class="incut-block ">
 
 National Media Group confirms partnership with Netflix in Russia. The holding becomes the operator of the Netflix service in the Russian Federation.&nbsp;
 
 
 We are pleased to provide Russian viewers with access to Netflix service and content in Russia. NMG and Netflix are working on the full localisation of the service.
 
 <div class="quote-owner">
 <div>
 
 Olga Paskina
 
 CEO of National Media Group
 </div>
 </div>
</div>
 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/netflix-lokalizuet-servis-na-territorii-rossii/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Netflix plans to completely localise its service in Russia

Rosstat (Federal State Statistics Service) will calculate the changes in consumer prices in stores using artificial intelligence.

 
 The project on collecting data from cash register receipts will be launched this year. Artificial intelligence will allow to collect and process large amounts of data and calculate consumer price statistics more accurately. Artificial intelligence will also help to solve the existing problems, for example, the system will help recognize item names more accurately.

 
 The system will be implemented in three stages. Currently, at the first stage, project concept is being developed. Then the software will be developed and implemented. The system will start functioning by the end of 2021.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/rosstat-budet-rasschityvat-izmenenie-potrebitelskikh-tsen-v-magazinakh-s-pomoshchiu-iskusstvennogo-intellekta/">Original (in Russian)</a>

rg.ru

Rosstat will calculate the changes in consumer prices in stores using artificial intelligence

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin spoke about this during the meeting with scientists and entrepreneurs. The adopted AI development program provides grants that will be allocated for the development of small startups and companies. It is planned to provide support to 1200 startups.

 
 The initiative will be implemented as part of the National Strategy for the Development of Artificial Intelligence, which was adopted last year.

 
 At the end of August, “Artificial Intelligence”&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://t.me/ict_moscow_ai/995">federal project</a>&nbsp;and the concept of AI and robotics <a target="_blank" href="https://t.me/ict_moscow_ai/980">regulation</a> were approved.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://t.me/ict_moscow_ai/1006">Original (in Russian)</a>

Interfax

Russian government will allocate $159 mln over the 4-year period to companies and startups in AI

According to Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry
Chernyshenko, “Mobile identifier” for electronic passport has been created and
is currently undergoing certification.&nbsp;

 
 According to him, the application was created
and it remained to solve the issue about certification and encryption of keys
of electronic signatures.

 
 The Ministry of Communications suggested
conducting an experiment from July 1, 2020 until the end of 2021 for citizens
to receive public, municipal and other services using the specialized mobile
app “Mobile identifier” instead of the passport. By August 31, the Ministry
suggested creating the mobile application and infrastructure for its work. It
will be possible to use the app starting from December 1, 2020.

 
 Citizens will not
only be allowed to provide a QR code generated in the application instead of a
passport, but also to apply a smartphone to a reader using NFC technology.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/v-rossii-razrabotali-prilozhenie-dlia-elektronnogo-pasporta/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Application for electronic passport was developed in Russia

QIWI studied how the Russian non-cash and contactless payments market changed in Q2 2020. Virtual card turnover grew by 44% in comparison with pre-crisis indicators. An average Russian made 19 transactions using a virtual card (versus 11 a year earlier). The average transaction amount increased in comparison with the first quarter by 12% to 10.5 thousand rubles ($135 dollars, + 44% compared to the same period last year). Virtual cards are most actively used in Moscow, its region, and in St. Petersburg.

 
 In general, over the specified period, the turnover of contactless payments increased by 32% in comparison with the first quarter. (and eight times exceeded the turnover of the same period last year). The highest demand was recorded in May compared to April 2020 (+48%).

 
 Qiwi <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/search/?searchText=Qiwi&amp;category=card&amp;sort=&amp;order=">cards</a> on ICT.Moscow

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/qiwi-oborot-po-virtualnym-kartam-vyros-na-44-vo-vtorom-kvartale/">Original (in Russian)</a>

QIWI

QIWI: virtual card turnover increased by 44% in the second quarter

The government is considering the possibility to ease some requirements for IT and telecom companies. In particular, according to RBC, the draft Plan for achieving the national development goals of Russia until 2024 and for the planning period until 2030 proposes:

<ul>
 <li>Postponing the introduction of the requirements on the mandatory transfer of servers that store personal data of Russians into the territory of the country until October 30, 2022;</li>
 <li>suspending until September 2022 the requirement of the Yarovaya Law to increase the capacity of technical means for storing Internet traffic by 15% annually, to abandon the requirement to store heavy content / video traffic;</li>
 <li>providing holidays in 2020 for paying for the rent of state real estate objects for deploying communications infrastructure;</li>
 <li>&nbsp;ensuring that communications operators and data processing centers enter the wholesale power market.</li>
</ul>

 
 At the moment, the document is still being developed, the newspaper reports.

 
 According to the amendments to the Federal Law “On personal data” that came into effect on September 1, 2015, the information about Russian users must be stored in the territory of the Russian Federation.

 
 According to the Yarovaya Law, telecom operators and organizers of information distribution on the Internet (e-mail services, instant messengers and other services that allow exchanging messages on the Internet) are obliged to store audio recordings of calls, the content of messages of users from July 1, 2018 for a period of six months, and from October 1 of the same year they have to store all Internet traffic for 30 days, annually increasing the storage capacity by 15%.

 
 In April 2020 the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications and proposed postponing the introduction of the requirement to increase the storage capacity and exclude video services from capacity calculation.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/pravitelstvo-mozhet-snizit-dlia-kompanii-trebovaniia-po-khraneniiu-dannykh-rossiian/">Original (in Russian)</a>

The government can reduce the requirements for storing data of Russians for companies

Three
largest Russian fiscal data operators,
Platforma OFD, Taxcom and Perviy
OFD, have agreed to a partnership with Kvant (a joint venture of Gazprom-Media
and MaximaTelecom).

 
 According to CNews Analytics data for April 2020, Platforma OFD (Sberbank is one of the co-owners) occupies 28.4% of the fiscal data operators market in terms of the number of connected cash
registers, Taxcom occupies 15.5% of the market, Perviy OFD (part of VTB Group ) - 15.2% of the market.

 
 As part of the partnership, Kvant will buy de-identified data on Russians’ offline purchases from these
companies. The data will be used to target advertisements in the advertising
networks of Yandex and Mail.ru Group, Facebook, Instagram and on Gazprom-Media
websites. 

 
 The supplies of de-identified data on offline purchases will increase
the accuracy of online advertising, and also allow to analyze sales before and
after the advertising campaign, the representatives of fiscal data operators
claim. 

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/gazprom-media-i-maksimatelekom-poluchat-informatsiiu-ot-fiskalnykh-operatorov/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Kommersant

Gazprom-Media and MaximaTelecom will receive information from fiscal operators

The Government Commission on Digital Development approved “Artificial Intelligence” federal project.

 
 The passport of the project was approved within the framework of the “Digital Economy” program. 36.6 billion rubles will be allocated for the implementation of the project (22.5 billion - from the funds of the state program, 6.91 billion - from state program “Development of the electronic and radio-electronic industry”, 6.9 billion - from extra-budgetary sources).

 
 Several agencies including the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Rosselkhoznadzor (Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance) refused to approve the project, since it does not include budgetary funding for their activities. In particular, funding for the following projects has not yet been approved:

<ul>
 <li>AI implementation in medical facilities;</li>
 <li>introduction of AI to control the intended use of lands and forecast crop yields;</li>
 <li>AI-assisted interpretation of images from space to reduce the number of violations of land laws.</li>
</ul>

 
 The reduction of the budget of “Artificial Intelligence” federal project was <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/developers-of-artificial-intelligence-federal-project-reduced-its-budget/">announced</a> in the middle of August. It was also announced that the funds will be used to support the demand for AI solutions, training and data availability.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/utverzhden-federalnyi-proekt-iskusstvennyi-intellekt/">Original (in Russian)</a>

“Artificial Intelligence” federal project was approved

The Russian authorities are going to increase the level of citizens’ trust in AI technologies. It is proposed to launch a popularization campaign in the media and social networks and create a national online portal about AI, ‘The Future of Russia. National Projects’ portal reports with reference to the draft passport of the “Artificial Intelligence” federal project.

 
 A trust index will be evaluated as part of the campaign. It will show the amount of respondents who are ready to use artificial intelligence technologies in everyday life.

 
 In 2021 the first events within the campaign will take place, and by 2024 at least 170 lectures should be held. The campaign is expected to reach up to 33 million people.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/doverie-rossiian-k-ii-planiruiut-povyshat-cherez-smi-i-sotsseti/">Original (in Russian)</a>

futurerussia.gov.ru

Trust in AI will be increased through the media and social networks in Russia

On Tuesday ICT.Moscow <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/specific-features-of-russian-ecosystems/">published </a>a
review of the development areas of three ecosystems: Yandex, Sberbank and Mail.ru Group. The monitoring includes the analysis
of 242 publications from November 2019 to August 2020. One of the conclusions
of the review was the fact that the areas for development of such business
model are defined by the specialization of the parent company, around which the
ecosystem is built.

 
 There was a significant number of publications dedicated to the use
of artificial intelligence, as well as on voice assistants, robotics and
unmanned vehicles. Sberbank has about 32 mentions of different AI technologies
out of 86 publications included in the monitoring, Yandex - 25 out of 81,
Mail.ru Group - 18 out of 75.

 
 The most common areas of AI use include voice assistants and other
speech processing and synthesis systems, unmanned vehicles, and biometric
systems.

<h2>
 Sberbank: joint development of AI
</h2>

 
 Sberbank was mentioned for joint work with other companies: either
within the framework of the joint venture (Cognitive Pilot, Mail.ru Group), or
in the context of the companies included in its ecosystem (MDG, VisionLabs).
However, Sberbank began to develop its own practices for working with AI. This
is also due to the launch of the Christophari supercomputer: in March its AI
Cloud platform was certified to work with personal data.

 
 During the pandemic, Sberbank was on the agenda more frequently:
from March to July inclusive, 11 publications related to coronavirus were
found. Artificial intelligence was mentioned in 5 cases. The company also&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/sberbank-has-launched-a-free-service-for-recognizing-ct-images/">developed</a> its own AI model for diagnosing COVID-19 and provided the regions
with free access to it.

 
 Currently, voice assistants are the main segment of AI, which is
practically not covered by Sberbank (as demonstrated by the materials found).
The ecosystem of the bank includes Speech Technology Center (STC), which is
developing solutions in the field of natural language processing (NLP), but
Sberbank still does not have its own analogue of Alice or Marusya.

 
 But the company is actively developing self-driving vehicles, working
in two areas at once. One is <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/card/cognitive-pilot/">Cognitive Pilot,</a> a joint venture with Cognitive
Technologies, which was announced in November. It took the companies only six
months to begin the industrial implementation of unmanned systems in
agricultural machinery. The second direction of work is the company’s own
development, and nothing is known about it yet, only the fact that the company
carries out the corresponding development activities.

<h2>
 Yandex: working in all directions
</h2>

 
 Yandex, on the other hand, develops its own AI projects, rarely
getting involved in joint ventures. In 2020, the company <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/yandex-announced-the-division-of-assets-with-sberbank/">concluded</a> partnership
with Sberbank and reorganized Yandex.Money and Yandex.Market services. However,
there are exceptions: Yandex and NVIDIA announced joint support for AI startups
in their acceleration programs.

 
 In general, the company strives to scale its developments and
services independently. For example, Yandex <a target="_blank" href="https://www.world-today-news.com/yandex-cloud-launched-a-service-for-developers-in-the-field-of-machine-learning-yandex-datasphere-editorial-material/">launched</a>&nbsp;a cloud-based framework
for developing machine learning models last year. It was is aimed at involving
third-party developers in their own ecosystem, a significant part of which is
built on artificial intelligence technologies.

 
 Today Yandex carries out development work in every area of AI. There
were not many noticeable news items about the voice assistant “Alice” - two
publications were selected as part of the monitoring. In November 2019, the
assistant first learned to speak a foreign language - Turkish. And at the
beginning of the year, the developer integrated Alice even deeper into its own
ecosystem and added the ability to call Yandex.Taxi with its help.

 
 However,&nbsp; the main area of work, according to the head
of the company Arkady Volozh, is driverless vehicles. From November 2019 to
August 2020, there were at least 9 important news items for the company in two
areas of drones development. The first was self-driving cars (the fourth
generation was introduced, and the company’s cars entered the world top-3 in
terms of mileage). The second was the robotic courier Yandex.Rover, which was
announced to be tested in November, and in April it was already put into
commercial operation at Skolkovo.

<h2>
 Mail.ru
Group: AI
through social networks
</h2>

 
 In terms of developing its own
services, Mail.ru Group combines the approaches of both Sberbank and Yandex.
But from the point of view of AI integration, the company’s model of work
resembles Yandex more. Mail.ru Group has recently been actively working in the
field of voice assistants:&nbsp; the smart
speaker "Capsule" was presented at the end of 2019, and in April 2020
this speaker equipped with “Marusya” voice assistant went on sale.

 
 The main difference between Mail.ru
Group and its competitors is that the company puts social networks at the
center of its ecosystem (as <a target="_blank" href="https://corp.imgsmail.ru/media/files/strategy2020-22.pdf">stated</a> in its development strategy). So it is not
surprising that the company begins to actively use artificial intelligence in
this area as well. Thus, it is planned to integrate VKontakte voice calls and
several other services with Capsule. And in Odnoklassniki (both social networks
are owned by Mail.ru Group) in March, a profile recovery function using face
recognition technology was launched.

 
 Like Yandex, Mail.ru
Group develops
all areas of artificial intelligence, but with one major exception. Driverless
vehicles are not on the Mail.ru Group agenda yet, and the plans of the company
for the development of this area are still unknown.

 
 <a></a>* * *

 
 It should also be noted that all the
three companies are expected to develop the area of scientific and technical
activities. In December, they signed a code of ethics for working with big
data, and a month before that they had announced plans to create an alliance
for the development of artificial intelligence. Companies also invest in
education in this area, entering into partnerships for the training of
specialists: for example, Sberbank and NUST MISIS or Yandex and ITMO
University.

 
 In general, the role of artificial
intelligence in Russian ecosystems corresponds to the general trends of the IT
market. At the beginning of the year, ICT.Moscow found out that most of the
world’s major analytical companies (including Gartner, IDC and KPMG) named AI
as one of the leading trends. Today, the active use of AI by Sberbank, Yandex
and Mail.ru Group shows that analysts were right: services using AI are
embedded in the life of businesses and end consumers.

 
 You can study the overview of the
development of Russian ecosystems from November 2019 to August 2020 in <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/specific-features-of-russian-ecosystems/">this</a>&nbsp;article.

Role of AI in the development of the largest ecosystems

Russia
developed a national standard for AI in clinical medicine. The document was
prepared by the experts of Diagnostics and Telemedicine Center together with “Artificial
Intelligence in Healthcare” subcommittee, which is a part of technical
committee 164 “Artificial Intelligence”. 

 
 The first of
the seven parts of the standard has already been edited. It regulates the
methodological basis of the clinical trials process, the procedures for
conducting clinical trials, accuracy indicators, auditing and quality control
of medical intelligent systems.

<div class="incut-block ">
 
 Intelligent systems are aimed at optimizing the work of diagnosticians, automating routine work, providing information support and introducing other options that help doctors. Without unified regulatory and technical standards approved by the professional community on a consensus basis, the practical implementation of artificial intelligence in the healthcare sector is impossible.
 
 <div class="quote-owner">
 <div>
 
 <a href="https://www.facebook.com/smorozov.md" target="_blank">
 Sergey Morozov
 </a>
 
 Chairman of the profile subcommittee, Director of Diagnostics and Telemedicine Center
 </div>
 </div>
</div>
 
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/razrabotan-natsionalnyi-standart-po-ii-v-klinicheskoi-meditsine/" target="_blank">Original (in Russian)</a>

RVC JSC (Russian Venture Company)

National AI standard in clinical medicine was developed in Russia

Testing of the self-driving Lastochka
trains began in Moscow. During the testing, various scenarios and
situations are worked out, including the emergence of obstacles on the tracks.
The tests are conducted under the control of the drivers, the technology is
tested at the Cherkizovo station. 

 
 It is planned to install special
equipment in trains and facilities of station infrastructure. According to the CEO
of Russian Railways, the unmanned trains can be launched at the MCC in 2021,
and in the future unmanned trains will be introduced on other railway lines
with high passenger traffic.

 
 In July, it was announced that Russian
Railways and the Ministry of Transport were planning to test unmanned trains at
a virtual testing ground.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/v-moskve-nachalis-ispytaniia-bespilotnogo-poezda-lastochka/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Moscow News Agency

Testing of self-driving trains “Lastochka” began in Moscow

Avtomatika business concern (a part of Rostec) will create a cloud platform for secure video conferencing (VCS). This was stated by Vladimir Kabanov, general director of the concern. According to him, the next step will be scaling the architecture and defining technical solutions in order to create a full-fledged cloud platform similar to Zoom.

 
 In July, it was announced that the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications together with Yandex and Mail.ru Group were working on the possibility of creating a Russian audio and video conferencing service and using it in educational institutions. These IT companies already have such solutions. Mail.ru Group launched a free video calling service in test mode in April, and Yandex presented a similar service in June.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/kontsern-avtomatika-sozdast-rossiiskii-analog-zoom/">Original (in Russian)</a>

“Avtomatika” concern will create a Russian analogue of Zoom

Moscow company
VisionLabs have taken first place in the testing of&nbsp;facial recognition algorithms conducted of the National Institute of Standards and Technology of the United States.&nbsp;&nbsp;

 
 The main goal
of testing was to determine the most universal facial recognition algorithms
that work equally well in a wide variety of application scenarios. Testing was
carried out using several types of photos, from photographs to documents and
pictures from webcams and phones.

 
 The solution
of the Moscow developer was recognized as the best in several categories:

 
 Visa - studio
photo for documents;

 
 Border -
pictures taken at passport control in airport;

 
 Visaborder -
comparison of images of the two previous categories;

 
 Mugshot - “police photo” or a portrait for any
card index.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/visionlabs-zaniala-pervoe-mesto-v-testirovanii-algoritmov-raspoznavaniia-lits-nist/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Skolkovo

VisionLabs was ranked first in NIST facial recognition algorithm test

EMIIA solution detects objects (people, cars, animals) through walls, in heavy fog, rain, at night. The system can also calculate the speed and direction of movement of the object.

 
 According to the developer, EMIIA can replace 30% of sensors and navigation aids in self-driving cars, while the speed and accuracy of object recognition will be higher. The operation of this AI algorithm is based on the Doppler effect - sensors measure changes and distortions of radio waves during movement, and AI analyzes this data and determines object properties.

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