Russia has also launched its own chatbot. Russia’s largest financial institution, Sberbank, has declared it a competitor to ChatGPT and named it GigaChat. The system is currently being tested and only those who have been invited to use it can do so.
Compared to other international neural networks, GigaChat is said to be able to speak more intelligently in the Russian language, according to Reuters. The chatbot name, which fits perfectly with the macho and male chauvinist view of contemporary Russian culture, is what really stands out.
The term ‘GigaChat’ quickly conjures up the image of ‘GigaChad’, a popular meme that features an exaggerated and manipulated image of a highly muscled man with an incredibly strong jaw and a contemptuous grin. This image is used to symbolize the stereotypical virile and toxic alpha male in online culture.
What’s even more entertaining is that Ernest Khalimoc, a bodybuilder and lingerie model from the Russian Federation, is the real-life model who appears in the image, which has been altered to resemble GigaChad. The idea that the term GigaChat has nothing to do with GigaChad seems rather difficult to accept.
In any case, the launch of GigaChat signals Russia’s official entry into the race to develop artificial intelligence chatbots, which was sparked after the spread of ChatGPT, the Microsoft-backed OpenAi software, around the world, whether or not it is another Russian attempt to demonstrate Moscow’s masculinity to the rest of the world.
Sberbank has recently made significant investments in technology in an effort to reduce Russia’s dependence on the West and China for its technological needs. A process that has become increasingly challenging and crucial since the start of the invasion of Ukraine and the Western sanctions that have affected every aspect of the Russian economy, including Sberbank, which has been barred from the Swift system of global financial transactions for the past year.
