Russia is set to get a ChatGPT alternative, courtesy of Russia’s largest bank – PJSC Sberbank. GigaChat, the company’s new chatbot, has been released today with limited access through an invite-only mode. It offers a unique advantage over its competitors by its ability to converse in Russian more efficiently.
Located in Moscow, this state-owned financial services provider has made sure that GigaChat’s answers when it comes to controversial topics such as the one related to Ukraine, have passed through governmental approval. Due to the current sanctions, it is highly improbable that GigaChat will be used outside Russia.
China is taking a similar approach as Russia and a lot of companies are producing their own alternatives for ChatGPT, some examples being Ernie Bot developed by Baidu and MOSS developed by the NLP Lab at Fudan University.
PJSC Sberbank is Russia’s largest banking and financial services company and the largest bank in Europe. This state-owned firm was founded in 1841 and is headquartered in Moscow. It has more than 16,500 branches and 200,000 cash machines in 30 countries and operates in retail, corporate and investment banking.
German Gref is the current CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board of Sberbank. He was appointed in 2000 and has since then transformed the bank, modernizing and expanding its business operations. The bank provides services to customers in nearly 20 countries, with a special focus on retail lending, corporate investment and insurance. Under the leadership of Gref, Sberbank has successfully transitioned into a full-service retail and corporate banking and insurance business.
