The wave of discussions surrounding the possible expansion of the powers of the voice assistant "Alisa AI" has met with a harsh reaction from Yandex. Boris Ryutin, head of the security group for "Alisa AI" and the company's self-driving transport division, hastened to dispel concerns, stating that the assistant does not and will not receive unlimited access to Russians' personal data, including banking applications. According to him, Alisa's functionality on mobile devices has always been limited by the operating system's security mechanisms, and it can only work with data for which the user has given explicit permission.
This statement was a response to an initiative being discussed at the Ministry of Digital Development. The ministry is considering the possibility of including "Alisa AI" in the list of software mandatory for pre-installation on smartphones, tablets, and smart speakers, as well as granting it expanded rights to access system functions of devices. Analysts have already seen risks of market monopolization by Yandex in this, but the company itself emphasizes that no preferences are being granted to it over foreign counterparts.
What exactly is being discussed at the Ministry of Digital Development?
The essence of the project, which has already disappeared from the portal of regulatory legal acts for public discussion, is to grant AI assistants the status of a "system service." This implies access to a number of functions, including notifications, authorization, and hardware capabilities. However, the most controversial point is the potential ability to interact with banking applications and other software that works with sensitive data. There are suggestions that such a measure is aimed at restricting foreign AI models, but there is no direct confirmation of this.
It is worth noting that the requirement to pre-install Russian applications has been in effect since 2021, and the list is constantly being expanded. "Alisa AI" is already included in it, as are "Yandex Browser," "Yandex Maps," 2GIS, and others. Nevertheless, combining mandatory pre-installation with a potential expansion of rights raises serious questions for me. Even if Yandex now assures that access will remain limited, the very precedent of discussing such powers for an AI assistant creates a dangerous zone of uncertainty. It is extremely important for the regulator to clearly define the boundaries of what is permitted in order to prevent a situation where one player gains tacit control over the entire ecosystem of mobile devices in the country. This is a matter not only of competition but also of digital sovereignty and user security.