Introduction of Artificial Intelligence Technologies in Russian Economy: A Practitioner’s View

The article presents the results of a generalization of the practical activities of companies developing and/or implementing artificial intelligence technologies (hereinafter referred to as AI), as well as companies that use these technologies: what scenarios for the use of AI technologies exist and in which industries, what kind of problems organizations implementing AI face, how members of the expert community of the artificial intelligence sphere consider solving these issues and what the state bodies offer. As to the state’s policy regarding the development of artificial intelligence, the article contains information about the factors built in the updated national AI development strategy, reflects the relations between AI technologies and state sovereignty, demonstrates the impact of artificial intelligence on the competitiveness of a company and human creativity. The article also presents the main instructions of the government of the Russian Federation on the development of artificial intelligence, some statistical data on the use of AI in economic and social sectors. It identifies measures to support developers and “implementers” of AI technologies offered by development institutions within the framework of the federal project “Artificial Intelligence” as a part of the national program “Digital Economy of the Russian Federation”. Much attention is paid to the issue of human resourcing in the AI sphere – what kind of specialists companies need, what their level of training should be and what they should be able to do, what requirements are imposed on AI teachers, what leading companies ask applicants for interviews and what the trajectory of “growing” talents in the field of artificial intelligence is. The final part of the article provides recommendations to students on how to prepare for the widespread use of artificial intelligence technologies.