Artificial intelligence (AI) will have a significant impact on economic growth and ensure the country's transition to a "high-wage economy," according to the authors of the "National Strategy for the Development of AI" for the period up to 2030. More than 30% of organizations in Russia as a whole used AI technologies to perform applied tasks by the end of 2023, according to the document. AI is capable of increasing the efficiency of business processes and radically changing them.

Who is actively implementing AI

In terms of the number of generative models used in the country, Russia is among the top 5 countries. 54.9% of organizations implement AI to improve an existing product, 31.6% - to create a new product or service. These figures are given in the report "White Paper of the Digital Economy 2023". According to analysts, the leader in the use of AI is the financial sector. 95% of enterprises in this industry have already implemented these "smart" technologies in one form or another. Also, almost half (45%) of small businesses say they are using AI.

"In the era of large-scale implementation of artificial intelligence technologies in all sectors of the economy, public administration and the social sphere, we are seeing a multiple increase in the efficiency of business and business processes. In the course of developing the annual Index of readiness of priority sectors of the economy for the implementation of AI, we see that since 2021, the average level of AI use in industries has increased by one and a half times and exceeded 32%, and in the leading sectors - the ICT sector and the financial sector - it has reached 50%," notes Sergey Nakvasin, Director of the National Center for the Development of Artificial Intelligence under the Government of the Russian Federation.

In his opinion, the growing interest of business is associated with the inherent competitive advantages of the implementation of new technologies. As the expert notes, over the past two years, organizations have begun to note the emergence of significant and multiple effects from the use of AI twice as often. This concerns both the acceleration of business processes and the growth in the quality of products and services provided. Among the industries where AI shows maximum efficiency are trade, financial services, construction, media and education.

More than 40% of large Russian companies, including those in the metallurgy, mining, media, banking, retail, mechanical engineering and insurance sectors, are at the stage of implementing AI solutions. Such data is provided in the report “Artificial Intelligence in Russia — 2023: Trends and Prospects” by Yakov & Partners and Yandex.

For example, all Russian IT giants use AI in their products, says Yuri Khakhanov, Director of the Urban Technologies Department at the Skolkovo Foundation (VEB.RF Group).

Small and medium-sized IT businesses are also implementing AI elements in their solutions, the expert continues: “At Skolkovo, we see this in all digital technology developers in different sectors of the economy, since AI has cross-industry applications. AI solutions for processing images, texts, and voice are in demand in all industries. The real estate and construction industries are gaining momentum in the application of AI; in the next two to three years, these sectors may become leaders in the number of implementations."

Analysts associate the expansion of user access to AI technologies and practical benefits for small and medium businesses with the development of generative AI (GenAI). Super-powerful generative models that entered the market in 2022–2023 are capable of independently solving human problems. For example, conducting a dialogue and answering any question, writing codes and film scripts, composing congratulations, drawing an image on a given topic in a certain style, and much more.

As noted by analysts from Yakov & Partners, the effect of the implementation of traditional AI (machine and deep learning, advanced analytics) is most noticeable in industries with a large number of tasks and data: in insurance, telecommunications, the IT industry, banking. Generative AI allows achieving results in all industries.

 

How generative models increase demand for AI technologies

Analysts from Yakov & Partners predict that by 2028, the realized effect of artificial intelligence technologies in Russia could reach 4.2–6.9 trillion rubles (equivalent to 4% of GDP). The full economic potential of AI by this date could amount to 22–36 trillion rubles in nominal prices.

At the same time, the effect of implementing AI in large businesses in the next three to five years is expected to be at the level of 5.8 trillion rubles. These forecasts are shared by the SRT group of companies.

One of the key drivers of development is the implementation of LLM (Large language model), emphasizes Dmitry Dyrmovsky, head of the artificial intelligence committee of the Association of Software Developers "Domestic Software" (ARPP) and CEO of SRT.

"We see that a breakthrough in solving business problems can be achieved through the synergy of proven speech technologies and progressive LLMs," the expert notes.

Such synergy, according to him, already contributes to revenue growth, cost reduction, improved customer experience (due to the creation of individual offers based on customer preferences), and has a positive effect on production processes.

LM is a type of model that focuses on language analysis and text generation. Generative AI covers a wider range of models and algorithms capable of creating new data not only in text, but also in other formats (as follows from the text generated by ChatGPT). Basic models of generative AI are being developed by only a dozen countries, including Russia.

Market leaders have already assessed the prospects of implementing progressive AI solutions, experts note. 40% of e-commerce companies are ready to invest 1-3% of their IT budgets in GenAI-based solutions, 30% of media and IT companies — 3-5% of their budgets, and 20% of telecom companies plan to spend more than 10% of their budget on AI, according to the results of a survey by Yakov and Partners.

“It is in the customer service area that the potential effect of implementing GenAI may be greatest,” notes Dmitry Dyrmovsky. Therefore, industries such as fintech, telecom and e-commerce, striving to provide the best customer experience, are the first to implement advanced technologies and products based on them.

According to him, AI solutions are already in demand for contact centers of large businesses and the public sector. For example, text and voice robots that automate service on typical mass issues. Modern speech synthesis technologies make this interaction as natural and pleasant as possible.

The implementation of AI helps in personnel and social issues, legal procedures, and document searches. In the industrial sector, automation of routine processes provides a significant economic effect and frees up resources for more complex tasks, notes ARPP. AI helps solve problems of labor protection, labor discipline control, equipment inspection, training and control of employee qualifications.

For example, the CRT group, together with Sibur and Sber, were among the first in the country to implement LLM (GigaChat) in industry. AI diagnostic assistants were created that help engineers of the oil and gas chemical company conduct a dialogue about the cause of equipment failure.

The employee describes anomalies in the operation of the equipment in text form. The trained AI assistant gives a relevant answer or formulates hypotheses about the causes of the malfunction. At the same time, the assistant can offer possible options for its elimination.

“This is just one of the implemented cases that can stimulate the scaling of such solutions in industry throughout the country,” notes Dmitry Dyrmovsky.

One of the key factors in the implementation of AI solutions for business remains the ROI (return on investment) indicator, notes ARPP: "Therefore, businesses will invest in effective solutions."

What effects have already been achieved with the help of AI

In a number of industries, there are working AI solutions that have proven their effectiveness for business, analysts note.

For example, the AI ​​platform for retail consumers "Atomenergosbyt" paid for itself in the second quarter of 2024, the company said. Without attracting additional employees, the company managed to increase the volume of customer requests, create a flexible system for automatically informing consumers and, as a result, increase the collection of accounts receivable from electricity users.

The system, developed by the IT company "Naumenconsulting", allows you to determine the topics of requests and distribute the flow of requests between the bot and operators. This helps relieve the burden on staff and improve the quality of consultations, the company said.

In particular, the flow of customer requests from the Smolensk, Kursk, Tver, Murmansk regions and the Republic of Khakassia was transferred to the platform. By the beginning of 2024, the share of requests processed in the interactive voice menu system increased from 48 to 70%. As a result, the average waiting time for an operator response was reduced by 33%, to 16 seconds, and the service level indicator increased up to 90%. Atomenergosbyt plans to roll out the solution to all divisions of the company.

AI is actively used to simplify business processes, says Yuri Khakhanov (Skolkovo): “Technologies help in digitizing paper documents and transferring them to electronic document management systems, in decoding calls and identifying promising clients to whom operators should pay additional attention, AI is used in many solutions for image processing.”

The design and construction company PSK Stroysila, for example, has implemented an online platform based on AI algorithms and computer vision. The solution developed by Immersia SK allows solving a number of problems in the real estate sector. These include conducting virtual tours of residential and commercial properties, generating digital passports of premises, and creating individual designs.

Another example is the Tekhzor solution for automating construction supervision. The development significantly improves the quality, speed and accuracy of localization of violations, and also increases the objectivity of determining typical defects, notes Yuri Khakhanov.

What will increase the effect of AI implementation

Extracting a wide range of benefits from AI implementations requires investment, says Dmitry Dyrmovsky: "For one unit of investment in software, three units of investment in changing business processes are needed." For the effective use of AI, according to him, the task of filling the personnel shortage is also a priority.

Experts are confident that the interaction of development companies, research laboratories and the state will stimulate the development of AI.

The federal project "Artificial Intelligence" of the national project "Digital Economy" helps accelerate the implementation of "smart" technologies in Russia. More than 100 universities in the country have launched bachelor's and master's degree programs to train specialists in artificial intelligence: more than 17.6 thousand personnel have already been graduated, 36 bachelor's and 86 master's programs are in effect.

The federal project supported 12 research centers in the field of AI. They received grants to conduct scientific research, develop applied technological solutions, train specialized specialists, and create data sets and industry frameworks. In addition, Skolkovo is selecting projects to test artificial intelligence technologies in priority industries.