'Entire professions may disappear': Putin warns about risks of artificial intelligence

Russian President Vladimir Putin highlighted the dangers and opportunities presented by artificial intelligence at the Eurasian Economic Forum.

“It is a very real scenario that millions of people will lose their jobs or be forced to change their occupation. Entire professions may disappear due to the fact that humans will be replaced by computer intelligence. Such processes are irreversible and inevitable,” Putin said.

At the same time, the Russian president said, “Progress does not stand still. We need to be prepared for the coming changes, and even better, use them as a driver of accelerated economic growth.”

Vladimir Putin at the Eurasian Economic Forum on the dangers, and opportunities, presented by AI:

“It is a very real scenario that millions of people will lose their jobs or be forced to change their occupation. Entire professions may disappear due to the fact that humans will… pic.twitter.com/kJGEHlKS0g

— Margarita Simonyan (@M_Simonyan) May 28, 2026

The Russian leader said that the country has an edge in the advancement of AI and called for closer cooperation among the Eurasian Economic Union during the summit.

Putin said Russia holds several advantages in the field of artificial intelligence, including scientific expertise, a skilled workforce, strong educational institutions, and the energy capacity needed to support large-scale AI infrastructure.

“Russia possesses the necessary personnel to solve tasks of this level. The development of artificial intelligence requires enormous energy consumption. Russia undoubtedly has competitive advantages here as well, including advanced nuclear energy technologies, hydro generation, and traditional energy sources,”he stated

He emphasised that developing AI systems requires significant investment and argued that Russia is among a small number of countries capable of building sovereign AI platforms.

Putin also announced plans for Russia to host a high-level international conference on artificial intelligence next year, focused on sovereign AI models, computing infrastructure, and adapting technologies to meet local requirements.