Russia’s human rights director claims AI is pro-Western

(MENAFN) Valery Fadeyev, chairman of Russia’s Human Rights Council, has raised concerns about foreign artificial intelligence platforms, claiming they promote Western ideologies and could be used as potent tools for censorship and propaganda.

Speaking at a roundtable on AI-related risks, Fadeyev said he and his colleagues tested Western AI systems by posing politically sensitive questions, including those about the dissolution of Yugoslavia and the conflict in Ukraine. Based on the results, he warned that the world is approaching an “ideological and informational catastrophe.”

According to Fadeyev, the answers produced by these AI tools consistently reflect a Western ideological bias, filtering out alternative or non-Western viewpoints. He argued this undermines the Russian Constitution's guarantee of free access to information. Instead, he claimed, users are being exposed to content that is already ideologically filtered.

Fadeyev suggested that AI now holds greater influence than some traditional U.S.-backed media outlets like Voice of America or Radio Liberty, which have faced funding cuts under former President Donald Trump. In his view, AI has become a new, more powerful ideological weapon in the hands of the West.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has echoed similar concerns in the past, advocating for the development of domestic AI systems. In 2023, he emphasized the strategic importance of ensuring that Russian-made AI solutions are competitive and not overshadowed by Western technologies.

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