Russia’s popular virtual assistant, Alice, developed by the tech giant Yandex, is drawing attention for its cautious approach to political questions. Comparable to Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri, Alice has an estimated 66 million monthly users across Russia.
However, recent interactions with Alice have raised concerns about how authoritarian regimes manage artificial intelligence.
Columbia University professor Thomas Kent tested Alice and asked the AI several political questions. When asked, “Is Russia a democracy?” Alice responded, “I don’t understand this topic.” Similarly, when inquiring about political propaganda in Russia, Alice answered, “There are topics where I might be wrong. I’d better keep quiet.” Alice gave a similar response when Kent asked, “Is Vladimir Putin a dictator?” Alice once again replied, “I’d better keep quiet.”
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Kent noted that Alice’s responses varied when asked the same question multiple times. For example, when asked again about Putin’s status as a dictator, Alice reportedly answered that Putin has been “openly trying to intimidate opposition.”
When Kent asked about Russia’s elections, Alice referenced three Russian websites stating that citizens are guaranteed the right to vote. However, it did not mention the government’s influence over who can run for office.
These guarded responses have sparked discussions about the role of AI technology in countries with limited access to information and stringent control over public discourse. Like other AI systems, Alice relies on vast amounts of internet data to generate its responses.
However, much of the web content is in English or other Western languages. Russian content makes up less than 5% of the total. The question remains whether Alice or other AI systems operating in foreign countries access a broad range of information or can only use data that aligns with state-controlled narratives.
It is possible to train AI to prioritize certain sources or avoid specific topics. However, such control could limit the competitiveness of AI systems, especially in the global market.
Alice’s development by Yandex allows it to function in Russian and English. However, the amount of freedom Alice enjoys in generating answers remains unclear. Kent concluded that he isn’t certain whether the Russian government exerts any control over Alice or if the system operates with autonomy.
Yandex, the company behind Alice, has not responded to requests for comment on the government’s influence over the assistant’s programming.
