MOSCOW, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Russia's State Duma, the lower house of parliament, on Wednesday passed a law establishing a legal framework for the development, deployment and use of large-scale artificial intelligence foundation models in the country.
The legislation introduces the concepts of "sovereign" and "national" AI foundation models and grants developers access to state data for training.
A sovereign AI model must be developed and fully controlled throughout its life cycle by a Russian legal entity, and be hosted in Russian data centers. A national AI model must also be developed by a Russian legal entity but may incorporate foreign open-source components. Both categories must comply with Russian laws and the country's traditional moral and spiritual values.
The government will be authorized to require the exclusive use of sovereign and national AI models in government information systems and other sensitive sectors.
The law also requires audio and visual content generated using large AI foundation models to be labeled.
Most provisions of the law will take effect on Sept. 1, while requirements concerning sovereign and national AI models, developer obligations, AI-generated content labeling and the use of intellectual property in model training will enter into force on March 1, 2027.
Existing systems will be exempt until Sept. 1, 2032, provided data are processed and stored within Russia. ■
