At the Data Fusion conference, the regulation of artificial intelligence was discussed.

      April 8, 2026 16:11 Economy The Russian market has matured for the implementation of artificial intelligence regulation, but it is important to find a balance between the interests of the state, business, and the population in order not to stifle the development of technology. At the same time, fear of new technology is natural – in the 19th century, people also feared the development of trains. This was stated by the head of the Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina and Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Grigorenko at the Data Fusion conference.

      In March 2026, the Ministry of Digital Development published a draft law on the regulation of artificial intelligence. Its discussion took place during the plenary session of Data Fusion.

      "According to estimates from HSE, last year the amount spent by businesses on the implementation of AI technologies exceeded 250 billion rubles. At the same time, there is not even a legal definition of what AI is, yet we are spending money. And, of course, the task of the state is to appear at the moment when it is needed, so as not to stifle the development of technology and to establish rules," Grigorenko believes.

      "Regulating AI is important. It provides a unified coordinate system and, at the very least, a common language that regulators, market participants, and developers can speak," Nabiullina said.

      She emphasized that balance is needed when introducing rules. "When we start regulating, when writing a draft law, there is always a desire to regulate everything. And, in my opinion, there is the greatest risk of over-regulating an emerging technology considering all potential fears, and we know that fears regarding this technology are significant," the head of the Central Bank believes.

      However, humanity is not encountering technological surges and fears due to them for the first time, and techno-optimists and techno-pessimists have always existed, Nabiullina reminded. She cited the opinions of doctors in the 19th century who believed that the high speed of trains was harmful to health and led to nervous exhaustion as an example.

      "Imagine if we, based on these fears, started to limit the speed of trains. Our lives would be slower and poorer," Nabiullina reflects.

      In her opinion, it is necessary to regulate not the technology itself, but the risks arising from it. She drew a parallel with how the Central Bank regulates operational risks:

      "Artificial intelligence carries operational risks, failures, hallucinations. But we have learned to regulate operational risks without delving into the technologies. That is, by setting requirements for the outcome, so that there are no failures, etc. And it seems to me that we should approach it in a similar way, setting requirements for the outcome." The law should also be high-level so that industry regulators have the right to specify requirements considering the specifics of the market."

      Scaling, implementing, and using AI in terms of its impact on society is analogous to the emergence of electricity, and in 5-10 years we will see a different world, Grigorenko believes. AI plus robots will create a new industrial society, agrees the president – chairman of the board of VTB Andrey Kostin.

      "This will be a change, perhaps even greater than the creation of the internet. The thing is, when it comes to practical application, for example, for banks, today the development of technologies, including artificial intelligence, is not so much a task of saving money, but rather a necessity to successfully compete with our peers who are also moving very quickly in this direction. The task is to create the most interesting and fast products for our clients," Kostin noted.

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