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Russia Considers Expanded Device Permissions for Yandex AI Assistant

evening · · thread: OpenAI Rogue Models Conduct Autonomous Cyberattacks, Prompting Calls for Industry Slowdown

2 sources · Latvia

Who reported this

  • Meduza Latvia · Centre-left · Crowdfunded; exiled Russian newsroom
  • Novaya Gazeta Europe Latvia · Centre-left · Crowdfunded; exiled Russian newsroom

What the colours mean

  • Left
  • Centre-left
  • Centre
  • Centre-right
  • Right
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Every source for this story reports from Latvia.

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Russia's Digital Development Ministry is considering new rules for the preinstallation of domestic services on mobile devices that could grant Yandex's Alice AI expanded access to system functions and user data. According to reports from the business daily Kommersant, the AI assistant could potentially gain access to banking applications and other apps that collect sensitive data. The proposed rules may also allow the assistant to store this information on Yandex servers. If implemented, the assistant could possess access rights significantly greater than any other preinstalled application on the government list.

The Digital Development Ministry previously published a draft resolution in early August regarding AI assistants with access to notifications, authorization, and hardware capabilities, but the document was later removed for revision. The ministry stated that the changes are currently under discussion with the industry. Yandex has not provided a comment on the matter.

Sources indicate the initiative is intended to support Russian AI and limit the influence of foreign smart assistants. While the rules primarily target smartphones and tablets, they may also affect smart speakers. One industry representative, Anton Guskov of RATEK, noted that granting such expanded rights could lead to the monopolization of the Russian market.

How each side framed it

Centre-left
Outlets of this lean framed the event as a potential expansion of data access and a strategic move to limit foreign AI competition in Russia.

Sources

100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.