President Putin’s dream in the field of technology and AI is “on the verge of collapse”

Before President Vladimir Putin launched a special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s artificial intelligence (AI) and IT sectors depended heavily on technology and investment from the West. Now, sanctions have brought major IT projects to a halt.

About 200,000 IT staff are believed to have left Russia since the start of the conflict (February 24).

Russian media CNews reported that there were nearly 95,000 vacancies in the IT industry at the end of March 2022 after a large number of workers moved abroad. Since then, the number of vacancies has been increasing while the number of applications is decreasing.

The percentage of candidates willing to switch jobs has exceeded 40%, while 45% of Russian programmers are said to be in favor of moving to Europe, according to Russian recruitment site hh.ru.

Samuel Bendett, a research analyst and AI expert, told Express.co.uk that Russia has historically been dependent on external countries, including the West, for investments in the IT sector.

Now, the country faces a massive loss of markets and investment resources, as major foreign tech companies leave Russia and sanctions cripple the economy.

Mr. Bendett said after the attack on Kiev, Russia “realized” that it did not have enough “highly educated people” in this area. He explained that the pause in “international cooperation” in the technology sector since the conflict has exposed “a lot of Russia’s shortcomings”.

At a recent talk by the Institute of Security and Technology, expert Rita Konaev emphasized AI as an area that will “suffer a lot of damage”. She said: “AI and technology in general, is an international, open and globalized field, so with sanctions imposed from the West, it can be said that Russia will be severely affected.” .

Russia has pledged to use AI in its military to help create high-tech weapons for intelligence gathering, but Mr. Bendett believes Putin’s “dream” has at least “reverted” years, or decades”.

Yandex is one of the Russian high-tech companies facing severe consequences from global sanctions and investment losses.

Ms. Konaev said that Yandex is “really suffering”, the company is losing “international investors and relationships”.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin recently spoke about the need to attract young IT professionals into the industry and create the necessary conditions for them to work in Russia and not to migrate abroad.

Mr. Bendett told Express.co.uk: “From Mr. Mishustin’s speech, it can be seen that this issue has been recognized at the highest level. If the Prime Minister of Russia talks about the brain drain in the IT sector. , you know how serious the crisis is.”

Despite the obvious problems facing the tech sector from sanctions and loss of investment, it remains unclear whether this will impact the Russian people and economy as a whole in the long run. how.

According to the report, in fact some Russian IT professionals who emigrated at the outbreak of hostilities are now beginning to return due to the difficulties of going abroad.

There is also some speculation that countries like India, Israel, as well as China, will step up investment and cooperation in Russia’s IT and AI industries.