Russia's Upper House Greenlights Landmark AI Regulation Law

Russia's Federation Council has approved a new law governing the development, deployment, and regulation of artificial intelligence in the country. The legislation, backed by lawmakers on July 17, sets the stage for how advanced AI systems will be built and used within Russian borders.

At the heart of the law are two new categories for large foundational AI models - sovereign and national. A sovereign model must be created by a Russian legal entity with full control maintained at every stage of its lifecycle, and it must be hosted in domestic data centers. National models, by contrast, can incorporate foreign components under open licenses. Both types must comply with Russian law and uphold traditional values.

Developers of these models stand to gain significant support. The law opens the door to financial, property, and information assistance from the state, and allows them to train neural networks using data from federal and regional information systems. The government, in coordination with security agencies, will set the rules for accessing that data. The move is seen as a push to build homegrown AI capabilities while keeping a tight grip on technology and data.

Source: RIA Novosti