
Russia's Sberbank plans to unveil LLM with reasoning capacity
ST PETERSBURG, June 18 (Reuters) - Russia's largest lender, Sberbank, plans to unveil a version of its Gigachat large language model (LLM) with reasoning capabilities, First Deputy CEO Alexander Vedyakhin told Reuters in an interview.
"In the near future, we will release a new model. Our GigaChat will have reasoning functions, meaning it will be capable of scientific research," Vedyakhin said. "I am already testing the beta version."
Such models are capable of reasoning through complex tasks and can solve more challenging problems than previous models in areas such as science, coding, and math. Global market leader OpenAI launched its reasoning LLM last September.
Vedyakhin said Russia still lags behind AI leaders the United States and China by six to nine months, but language adaptation, stable performance, and the use of domestic cloud servers make Sberbank's GigaChat a preferred model for Russian corporate clients.
Vedyakhin said that around 15,000 companies in Russia are already using Sberbank's GigaChat. Yandex, Sberbank's main domestic rival in artificial intelligence, said in May that its search engine now had reasoning functionality.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Major Wimbledon change as iconic feature of tournament will be MISSING for first time in its 148 year history
LINE judges will be absent from Wimbledon today for the first time in the tournament's 148-year history — after being booted out by AI. Around 300 of the blazer-wearing officials who call 'out' and 'fault' have been axed in favour of an electronic gizmo. 1 Replacing them is the Hawk-Eye Challenge System which uses high-speed cameras and algorithms to track ball trajectory with pinpoint accuracy. Voices used by the tech are from people working behind-the-scenes at Wimbledon, including tour guides. The decision to adopt AI was made after a pilot at last year's tournament. It is understood the All England Club was reluctant, but the tech has been used in other events for years. Chair umpires will remain. Sally Bolton, chief executive of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, said AI will ensure 'maximum accuracy' in officiating. British No 4 Billy Harris, 30, said: 'I'm sure the umpires will be missed. 'It feels like a quieter court when they're not there, and they are all dressed up nice in the suits. 'But if the line calls are more accurate I guess most of the players are not going to be complaining.' Former line judges had to compete for 80 new match assistant roles, which can involve measuring the net, opening tubes of new balls and escorting players to the toilet. Veteran linesman Charles Falconer, 77, who would have been awarded a trophy and certificate to mark his 50th year this summer, reportedly missed out. One judge said: 'Charlie even asked if he could do stewarding to make the milestone, but the tournament told him there was nothing available. 'I thought Wimbledon were better than that.' A total of 23 Brits are in the singles events at this year's tournament — the most since 1984. QUEUE CANNOT BE SERIOUS TENNIS-mad fans pitched tents and sofas overnight to be the first through the gates of Wimbledon this morning. Some 1,400 eager supporters braved searing heat and crammed into nearby Wimbledon Park. Tournament bosses have even issued a dossier on how to queue correctly. The guide warns against smoking, cooking on barbecues and toilet breaks of more than half an hour. Among those queuing last night was Quin Latimore, 29, who said: 'It's filling up fast. 'I have been doing this for quite a few years and have never seen it this busy.'

Finextra
3 hours ago
- Finextra
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Chaos: By Erica Andersen
Or: AI Confessions from the Keynote Stage What a difference a year makes. Last week, I found myself on stage at the AI World Congress, delivering a keynote to a room full of people who, twelve months ago, were probably telling anyone who'd listen that AI was going to solve world hunger, cure cancer, and maybe even fix their corporate expense reporting system. Fast forward to today, and suddenly the same crowd is singing a very different tune. The other keynotes? Let's just say they weren't exactly radiating optimism. Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, McKinsey – the usual suspects – all took their turns at the podium to essentially deliver variations of the same message: "AI is hard. Our systems don't work. Where's our ROI? We're confused and slightly terrified." Welcome to reality, folks. Population: everyone who actually tried to implement AI. The Crybaby Chronicles Now, I don't want to sound unsympathetic. Actually, scratch that – I do want to sound a little unsympathetic, because here's the thing: we've been saying this for years. AI isn't just software with a fancy hat. It's a completely different beast that doesn't play by the rules you learned in your Computer Science 101 class. These organizations have been approaching AI with a software-only mentality, and then acting shocked – shocked! – when things don't work like a traditional database query. AI systems can fail silently, which is terrifying if you're used to error messages that actually tell you what went wrong. They can also appear to work perfectly while delivering completely suboptimal results, which is like having a GPS that confidently directs you to drive into a lake. You need an engineering mindset for this, not just a software background. Engineers understand that things break, that systems are unpredictable, and that you need multiple layers of protection. Software developers expect deterministic outcomes. AI gives you probabilistic chaos with a side of randomness. The Economics of Artificial Anxiety And then there's the money talk. Suddenly, everyone's discovered that running AI costs actual money. Who could have predicted this shocking development? Here's the part that's going to make you really popular at parties: I think the big providers – AWS, OpenAI, the whole gang – are actually undercharging right now. They're burning through investor cash to grab market share. At some point, someone's going to want to actually make money, and those token costs are going to climb faster than a venture capitalist chasing the next unicorn. But here's where it gets interesting. People are obsessing over ROI, but that's like asking what the ROI was on the first spreadsheet. Imagine trying to explain to someone in 1979 why they should pay for VisiCalc: "Well, it's like a calculator, but bigger, and it has boxes, and you can change one number and other numbers change too." Revolutionary? Absolutely. Easy to calculate ROI? Not so much. The smartR Approach: Embrace the Chaos When we work with our AI models in our company we've taken a different approach. We think of AI as Assistive Intelligence, not Artificial Intelligence. The difference isn't just semantic – it's philosophical. Instead of trying to replace humans entirely (which is where most people run into trouble), we augment what people can do. Think of it like having a really powerful, occasionally unpredictable intern. They can do things that are hard or impossible for humans, but you still want someone experienced reviewing their work. The magic happens when you combine AI's raw computational power with human judgment and oversight. You get something better than the sum of its parts, and you avoid the nightmare scenario of full automation gone wrong. The Great Data Myth Here's another sacred cow we love to slaughter: the obsession with perfect data. Everyone keeps saying, "Your data needs to be in order first." Well, guess what? Your data is never going to be in order. It's a beautiful, chaotic mess, and it always will be. But here's the plot twist: AI can actually help clean up your data. Instead of spending months (or years) trying to organize everything perfectly, you can curate good datasets from your underlying messy data. The AI helps with the cleanup process. It's like having a really good research assistant who can find the good stuff buried in your filing cabinet of chaos. People telling you that you must clean all your data first are essentially creating expensive busy work. They're making money off your preparation anxiety while you could be getting actual results. The VC Reality Check We also love talking about how the AI engine companies probably aren't going to make the ridiculous money that had VCs practically hyperventilating with excitement. This technology is going to become commoditized and open source. The real money – the sustainable, long-term money – is going to be made by people who figure out how to actually apply AI to solve real business problems. That doesn't mean these foundational tools aren't important. They're absolutely crucial. But making venture capitalist levels of money from them? That's going to be tough when you're competing against open source alternatives and every tech giant on the planet. Privacy: The Chickens Come Home to Roost And speaking of uncomfortable truths, let's talk about privacy. We've been banging this drum for years, pushing private and secure models while everyone else was happily shipping their data off to the big cloud providers. Well, surprise! A US court just told OpenAI they can't delete anything – including conversations people specifically asked to be deleted. Your private messages might become public evidence. But surely GDPR will save us, right? Wrong. America doesn't care about your data protection laws. The worst that will happen is some European official will impose a token fine, give a stern speech about showing those big bad tech companies who's boss, and then everything will continue exactly as before – except now your private information is scattered across the web like digital confetti. If you want your data to stay private, don't send it outside your ecosystem. It's that simple. The Swiss Cheese Philosophy Here's the thing about AI mistakes: they're inevitable. Sometimes what looks like a mistake to one person is actually a reasonable answer to someone else. That's just the nature of the beast. I like to think of AI implementation using the Swiss cheese model. Imagine multiple layers of cheese stacked on top of each other, each representing a different safety barrier. The holes represent vulnerabilities. No single layer is perfect, but together they provide protection. AI should be another layer or two of cheese in your stack. It adds protection and capability, but it shouldn't be the only layer. If you're going to remove human oversight, you better be absolutely confident that the AI can't break your entire system. The Bottom Line We're constantly upgrading our proprietary platform, based on real-world implementation experience. We've learned that AI works best when you stop trying to make it behave like traditional software and start treating it like the powerful, unpredictable tool it actually is. The companies crying about AI being hard aren't wrong – it is hard. But it's hard in an interesting way, like switching from building model airplanes to building rockets. Sure, they both fly, but rockets require understanding thrust vectors, fuel chemistry, and the uncomfortable reality that sometimes they explode spectacularly on the launch pad. The physics are different, the margin for error is smaller, but when you get it right, you're not just flying – you're reaching orbit.. The key is approaching it with the right expectations, the right safeguards, and maybe a sense of humor about the whole thing. Because if you can't laugh at the absurdity of trying to teach machines to think while we're still figuring out how human thinking works, you're probably taking this whole AI revolution thing a bit too seriously. And trust me, after listening to those other keynotes, we could all use a little less seriousness and a lot more practical wisdom about what AI can actually do – and what it definitely can't. Written by Oliver King-Smith, founder and CEO, smartR AI


Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Scarlett Johansson hits out at AI after a chatbot copied her voice: 'It threatens reality'
Scarlett Johansson has taken aim at AI after a tech company launched a ChatGPT voice assistant that sounded strikingly like her, despite the actress having refused to lend her voice to the project. The Hollywood star, 40, said she was left 'shocked and in disbelief' when OpenAI's virtual assistant 'Sky' was unveiled at a glitzy Silicon Valley event in May 2024. Fans were quick to note that the assistant's sultry, husky tones bore an eerie resemblance to Johansson's distinctive voice, most recognisably from her role in Her, the 2013 sci-fi film where she played an AI who develops a romantic relationship with its human user. Making matters worse, OpenAI boss Sam Altman appeared to stoke the fire, posting just one cryptic word on social media at the time of the launch: 'her'. The reference was widely seen as a nod to Johansson's role in the film, further fuelling speculation that the company had used her as inspiration without permission. Scarlett later revealed that Altman had personally approached her months earlier, asking if she would be interested in voicing the assistant – an offer she turned down. But despite her refusal, a voice alarmingly close to her own was still used. The Hollywood star, 40, said she was left 'shocked and in disbelief' when OpenAI's virtual assistant 'Sky' was unveiled but now says that while she believes AI can serve a purpose in film production, it can't replace the emotional core of a real performance Speaking to The Sunday Times, Scarlett explained that while she believes AI can serve a purpose in film production, it can't replace the emotional core of a real performance. 'I just don't believe the work I do can be done by AI,' she said. 'I don't believe the soulfulness of a performance can be replicated.' Though she acknowledged AI's usefulness behind the scenes - particularly in special effects - Scarlett warned of the deeper danger the technology poses when it begins to blur the line between truth and reality. She said: 'That's a threat. The bigger picture - about how we human beings, with fragile egos, can continue to have the trust that we have to have in one another, to continue as a society. It's a moral compass. 'We move around the world every day just knowing we have to trust in some basic reality that we all agree on. AI threatens the foundation of that, and that to me is very haunting.' The scandal surrounding 'Sky' led to the voice being removed from ChatGPT shortly after Scarlett's legal team stepped in. OpenAI later claimed the voice was never intended to imitate the actress, but the damage was already done. Scarlett who stars in the upcoming summer blockbuster Jurassic World: Rebirth, joked about her past experience with artificial stand-ins, recalling that during filming she spent months acting opposite a tennis ball on a stick in place of CGI dinosaurs. She said: 'Some people have been upset with [AI in film-making] and that's fair, but on Jurassic World, I did act with a tennis ball for four months - and not all of that is completely authentic.' Jurassic World: Rebirth hits cinemas on July 2 and promises to be the blockbuster event of the summer. Starring alongside Scarlett is Wicked and Bridgerton's Jonathan Bailey. The second trailer for the upcoming flick begins with Scarlett who stars as skilled covert operations expert, Zora Bennett. She can be heard warning the others as they head to the tropical island, the site of previous films. 'The theme park owners did experimental work,' she says. 'Leaving only the worst ones here.' For the top-secret mission, they must safely obtain and bring back the genetic material of the most dangerous and largest dinosaurs the world has ever seen, made even more ferocious after the previous Jurassic Park scientists experimented on them. The group are seen traveling by boat and arriving at the island, only to be first greeted by a bone-chilling roar in the distance, as they prepared to face off 'the worst of the worst dinosaurs left here,' as seen in text that flashes quickly across the screen. 'We've put ourselves in a place where we don't belong,' Bailey as Dr. Henry Loomis even says to her at one point. 'Survival is a long shot.' She replies: 'That's kind of our specialty.' The movie is set half a decade after the 2022 Jurassic World Dominion movie, which starred Bryce Dallas Howard alongside Chris Pratt, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Sam Neill among many more in the all-star cast. The synopsis of the movie reads: 'Five years after the events of Jurassic World Dominion, the planet's ecology has proven largely inhospitable to dinosaurs. 'Those remaining exist in isolated equatorial environments with climates resembling the one in which they once thrived,' the summary continues. 'The three most colossal creatures within that tropical biosphere hold the key to a drug that will bring miraculous life-saving benefits to humankind.' The star-studded cast also includes Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Luna Blaise, David Iacono, Audrina Miranda, Philippine Velge, Bechir Sylvain, Ed Skrein and many more.