Artificial Intelligence Technologies in the Russian Arctic: The Case of the Murmansk Oblast

Currently, the change of technological mode is taking place at a tremendous speed. In his Christmas lecture “Results of 2022 and prospects for the future”, Dmitriy Peskov emphasizes that “on the horizon of 2030, a fundamentally different model of the Internet will appear — many servers, search links and emails will disappear in the coming years, Yandex and Google understand this” 1. Digitalization is the main driver of the production development in the 21st century; prod-

^∗ © Pitukhina M.A., Belykh A.D., 2023

ucts, production processes and business models are changing. Digitalization “Industry 4.0” has become a well-established concept among politicians, business leaders and scientists [1; 2; 3]. At the same time, Chinese researchers are already writing about the development of “Industry 5.0”, which consists of using the unique creativity of human specialists in collaboration with powerful, intelligent and precise machines [4].

In July 2021, the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) and the National Priorities ANO presented data from a survey of Russians on the attitude towards artificial intelligence, conducted as part of the implementation of the federal project “Artificial Intelligence” of the national project “Digital Economy” 2. The vast majority of Russians (81%) are familiar with the term “artificial intelligence” (AI), while 32% declare that they can explain its meaning; 18% are not familiar with this term.

There is no doubt that new artificial intelligence technologies (machine learning, computer vision, speech recognition, business analytics, process automation, drones, machine translation, intelligent data analysis, etc.) are rapidly changing human life all over the world, including Russia and the Russian Arctic. It is expected that the use of artificial intelligence technologies in the Arctic will increase the volume of maritime traffic along the NSR, residents of remote Arctic villages will receive high-quality mobile communications, and constant Internet access will provide the opportunity for distance learning.

The Russian Arctic is a positive example of the implementation of IT and AI technologies. The purpose of introducing such technologies is to improve the quality of life of northerners. Thus, the IT camps of the Khanty and Mansi are known throughout the world — the indigenous peoples of the North connect to UN conferences there 3. In 2022, Rostelecom announced that it had completed the construction of an underwater fiber-optic communication line in Chukotka — this region was the last one not connected by terrestrial fiber-optic lines to the general communication network of the Russian Federation. In 2022, Norilsk organized the first regular Arctic IT festival with the participation of experts from Russian and foreign companies 4.

Projects in the Arctic related to the implementation of AI technologies are also becoming increasingly popular, with the Murmansk Oblast becoming the leader in the implementation of such projects. The impetus for such breakthrough innovative development of the region was given by the Governor of the Murmansk Oblast A. Chibis, who headed the working group of the State Council to ensure transport, logistics and socio-economic development of the Russian Arctic in November 2022. In February 2023, a meeting of the presidium of the State Commission for Arctic Development was held, at which it was decided to recognize the project for the construction of a

NORTHERN AND ARCTIC SOCIETIES

Maria A. Pitukhina, Anastasiya D. Belykh. Artificial Intelligence Technologies … modern coal transshipment complex “Lavna” in the seaport of Murmansk as a priority for financing. Also in February 2023, it became known that the “Capital of the Arctic” TAD will be expanded to implement the project “Construction of the Western transport and logistics hub”. It is planned to build a container terminal for international transit sea freight in the Kola region. The terminal will be used for transshipment of cargo to ice-class vessels operating on the Northern Sea Route.