New Russian AI robot greets Putin, weeks after rival model malfunctioned publicly

President Vladimir Putin was treated to a dance performance by an AI-powered humanoid robot named “Green” at a technology exhibition in Moscow on Wednesday, November 19, just days after another Russian robot stumbled publicly during its debut presentation.

Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank hosted the event to highlight the domestic technological advance of the country.

The state television broadcasted the footage where the robot introduced itself to Putin, stating, “My name is Green. I am the first Russian humanoid robot with embedded artificial intelligence....a physical embodiment of technology.”

After a brief introduction, the robot danced to a song claiming its favourite track, which the Russian President admired as “beautiful.”

Earlier, Russian humanoid robot technology faced worldwide ridicule as another Russian robot “Aidol” went awry when the machine fell on its face during its debut performance.

During the same technology event, Putin analysed a new smart ATM that was capable of analyzing a customer’s health on the basis of biometric indicators.

More importantly, he utilised the same forum for a “national AI task force” to systemize Russia’s development of homegrown generative AI models.

“For Russia, it is a matter of national, technological, and value-based sovereignty,” Putin stated.

He stressed on the importance of reforming domestic AI technology as dependency on foreign AI is unacceptable.

He warned that large-language models can highly shape public opinion and insisted that Russia must possess its own full suite of AI technologies.

The push for AI sovereignty comes as Russia works to overcome challenges posed by Western sanctions, which have restricted access to critical hardware such as microchips.

At the forefront of this effort is Sberbank, which has pivoted from a traditional bank to a tech giant, having developed the GigaChat AI that powers the Green robot.