Russian financial giant Sberbank has launched GigaChat, a new generative AI chatbot, in an effort to rival Microsoft’s ChatGPT, Google’s Bard, and other current industry leaders. GigaChat boasts the ability to ‘multimodally interact’ in Russian, while the platform’s open architecture allows developers and users to experiment with its technological features.
The newest technological advancement is currently in an invite-only testing phase, capable of responding to users’ questions, having a conversation, writing program codes to develop software, and creating texts and images based on descriptions within a single context. President and Chairman of the Board of Sberbank, Herman Gref, spoke of the new solution, saying it is a breakthrough “for the whole universe of Russian technologies”.
In order to develop the model, Sberbank teams from SberDevices and Sber AI, alongside Moscow’s Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, collaborated. Moreover, experts have been hired to ensure GigaChat carries out instructions with accuracy and adheres to the code of ethics. The neural network has been trained on the bank’s supercomputer, Christofari Neo, which launched in November of 2021.
The generative AI market is projected to reach $188.62 billion by 2032, growing at a steep 36% annual rate, according to market research company Brainy Insights. Statistics further show that North America is currently dominating the market.
In the same year, OpenAI released the popular ChatGPT while Google debuted Bard, and Microsoft introduced its AI-powered Bing search engine. GigaChat is hoping to join with such hyper-successful AI applications, equipped with key features of neural networks, open platform architecture, and a comprehensive safety and ethics code.
Sberbank, also known as Savings Bank of the Russian Federation, is the largest bank in Russia and Europe, as well as the sixth largest in the world. It is a state-owned company with 14,000 branches and over 13 million active customers. It deals from individual services to corporate banking and has numerous private investments, including the newly-developed GigaChat.
Herman Gref has been the President and Chairman of the Board of Sberbank since 2007, during which time he initiated new strategic directions for the bank, including reformation of its corporate culture, internal processes and employee motivation. Under his guidance, the company has gained a stable financial position and risen to be the leader in the banking sector not only in Russia, but around the world.
