Russia’s largest bank wants in on the AI craze with its ChatGPT competitor GigaChat. Trained in Russian, the new AI language tool is proposed to be the region’s answer to OpenAI’s mega-popular GPT model.
Owned by Sberbank, GigaChat allows Russian speakers to partake in the ongoing AI tech craze in their mother tongue.
Just like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the GigaChat AI is able to answer user queries and hold lengthy conversations. Furthermore, the tool can also be used to write code for apps, programs, games and more.
Furthermore, Sberbank’s AI tool also boasts an AI image generator, a feature that ChatGPT does not have. While OpenAI, the minds behind ChatGPT, have their own DALLE image generator, it’s not currently incorporated into the company’s chatbot.
Sberbank GigaChat AI aims to be a multimodal tool that will allow Russian users to take advantage of myriad AI uses. While it starts with text and image generation, the service could add video, audio and more in the future.
Of course, the Russian tech scene isn’t new to AI at all. During the war with Ukraine, Russian hackers have even used AI to their advantage in attempted deepfake political espionage declaring a Ukrainian surrender. Russian media companies have also used AI deepfakes for mainstream advertisements to recreate celebrities like Bruce Willis.
As AI tools like ChatGPT already start to reach the state of diminishing returns, more AI models specific to different languages are going to pop up. After all, Chinese tech giants are already working on their alternatives, they just aren’t available for the public yet.
Over time, more and more language-specific models will be available around the world. At the time of writing, most of the popular ChatGPT alternatives are available exclusively in English, or have poor quality grammar in other languages. Even in English, these tools are far from perfect.
However, it’s worth noting that even the most popular AI tools are riddled with misinformation. Recently, Google employees begged management not to release its Google Bard AI tool due to it being a “pathological liar”. These misinformation issues plague every single AI tool, including ChatGPT.
Russia’s GigaChad AI will undoubtedly suffer from the same bias and misinformation issues that every AI service does. How Sberbank decides to limit or approach these negative aspects is yet to be determined.