Russia now has its own ChatGPT, introducing GigaChat

Russia’s obsession to compete with the West continues with the introduction of its own AI chatbot – Gigachat.

Sberbank, Russia’s largest banking institution, announced the release and testing phase of the nation’s first ChatGPT competitor named GigaChat.

Not to be confused with the slang term "GigaChad" – identified in Urban Dictionary as “a strong, tall and masculine alpha male” and often depicted in memes as a digitally altered version of the famous Russian fitness model and bodybuilder Ernest Khalimov – GigaChat was designed specifically for the native Russian speaker.

Sberbank claims GigaChat’s novelty is its ability to communicate more intelligently in Russian than other foreign neural networks.

Sberbank’s CEO described GigaChat as “a breakthrough for the larger universe of Russian technology.”

The Russian chatbot rival is said to be able to answer questions, hold a conversation, and write program code to develop software.

What sets it apart, according to Sberbank, is the AI tool's ability to generate both text and images, unlike ChatGPT which only can generates text.

GigaChat is initially being released to a small community of testers who can sign up through a closed Telegram channel, according to The Moscow Times.

"It’s important to note that GigaChat can be used not only by those who love to experiment with new technologies, but also by students, and even researchers for serious scientific work,” Sberbank’s CEO said.

GigaChat is the second AI chatbot to be introduced in Russia this spring.

The Moscow-based IT company Sistemma announced the creation of its own ChatGPT competitor last month, SistemmaGPT.

Sistemma’s AI large language model (LLM), which also operates entirely on domestic servers and in the Russian language, was designed specifically for Russian businesses and government agencies.

Sistemma developers claim its generative pre-transformer (GPT) has identical capabilities to ChatGPT-3.5 and boasts “encyclopedic knowledge.”

The company said it will release its chatbot for testing this summer.

ChatGPT has been banned by the Kremlin since it exploded on the scene last November due to fears of disinformation and criminal use.

Although upon its launch, ChatGPT’s creator, Microsoft backed startup OpenAI, said it geo-blocked the AI tool to prevent Russian users accessing the system.

Meanwhile, banking giant Sberbank has invested heavily in emerging technology in recent years but took a substantial financial hit after the Russian invasion of Ukraine due to reduced exports, Western sanctions, and the exit from the EU’s SWIFT payment network.

Sberbank is hoping GigaChat will cement the financial institution and its nation as a permanent fixture on the global stage of AI tech development.