Deputy head of the Ministry of Justice: artificial intelligence can replace “foreign agents”

Deputy Minister of Justice of Russia Oleg Sviridenko, speaking on June 25 at a session of the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum, spoke in favor of introducing administrative, criminal and financial liability for owners of artificial intelligence services. It may occur if the use of artificial intelligence leads to “a blow to the sovereignty of the Russian Federation.” As an example of such a blow, he cited the possible use of AI to bypass restrictions imposed on “foreign agents.”

According to Sviridenko, many “foreign agents” are now abroad and “don’t do as much harm as they would if they were here,” but that could change with the development of artificial intelligence. “Imagine for just one second that the entire composition of foreign agents who are now abroad, and there are more than five hundred of them there... Imagine that artificial intelligence will simply replace them and will do everything that the foreign agents did,” the deputy minister said, as quoted by Kommersant. He did not develop his idea, without explaining, for example, whether he meant that the AI ​​would generate texts on behalf of “foreign agents” or in their style.

According to the deputy minister, owners of artificial intelligence services should provide users with “filters designed at least for national security.” He noted that in Russia there is a practice of multi-billion dollar fines against foreign corporations such as Google, and this scheme, in his opinion, will be more effective in relation to Russian companies: “It is clear that we will not take a lot of things from Google, but here our people can be held accountable for it.”

Sviridenko also called for the legislation against “foreign agents” to be tightened again, saying that they allegedly circumvent the restrictions associated with special accounts by transferring their income free of charge to third parties through gift agreements or marriage contracts. The department, according to him, plans to finalize the legislation regulating the mechanism of special accounts.

The day before, attention was drawn to the statements of another deputy minister of justice at the same forum. Vadim Balanin called cohabitation without marriage registration a “direct threat to national security.” And the Minister of Justice Konstantin Chuychenko himself questioned the constitutional principle of the priority of human rights and freedoms, saying that the principles of ensuring the rule of law and strengthening statehood are no less important.

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