The Ministry of Digital Development has carried out a structural reorganization: the former combined department for the development of artificial intelligence and big data has been split into two independent units, and the implementation of AI services has been separated into a distinct area. For IT companies and developers, this opens up the opportunity to work with a dedicated AI team, but the restructuring itself may temporarily slow down project approvals.
Citizens are unlikely to notice changes in public services: the interagency data exchange systems remain under the management of the previous head. Investors in the IT sector may see in the reorganization a signal that the state is betting on the practical application of AI, which means demand for domestic AI solutions may grow.
Who will be responsible for AI and who for data
Deputy Minister of Digital Development Grigory Borisenko will continue to oversee both departments. Soslan Gabuev will temporarily head the new department for the implementation of artificial intelligence services and digital platforms and will receive the entire AI-related agenda. Previously, Gabuev was deputy director of the combined department, and he joined the Ministry of Digital Development in 2023 from the Ministry of Economic Development, where he held an equivalent post in the department for the development of the digital economy.
Sergey Sergienko, who had headed the combined structure since December 2022, will remain head of the second unit — the department for the development of data processing technologies. He will continue to be responsible for the system of interagency electronic interaction (SMEV), the national data management system (NSD), and data marts. Through SMEV, agencies request certificates from one another so that citizens do not have to collect them themselves.
It is not yet clear how the ministry will delimit the powers of the new departments: AI services need access to government data.
How AI is changing the work of the state and business
The state is introducing AI not only in the executive branch: the relevant State Duma committee on digital development will receive its own AI agent to process legislative initiatives. If the tool works as intended, experts and regions will be able to convey proposals on the digital economy to deputies more quickly.
The connection between AI and data is clearly visible in the example of business: Sber's CFO Taras Skvortsov believes that managers can entrust up to 90% of simple decisions to AI. However, this is possible only in companies that have put their data in order — at the state level, Sergienko's department is addressing precisely this task.
The same bank sees that AI implementation begins with top executives: about a thousand company leaders already assign tasks to the AI agent "Gigaagent." Gabuev's new department, judging by its name, should solve a similar task in the public sector — moving AI services from experiments into everyday work.
Cryptalist analysis: The reorganization indicates a shift in the state's priorities from accumulating data to their applied use in AI products, which creates sustained demand for domestic solutions in the govtech and corporate automation segment. For the market, the key risk remains the uncertainty of the division of powers between the departments, which could temporarily slow down the approval of new projects. Investors should watch for the emergence of specific budgetary and regulatory mechanisms rather than the structural restructuring itself.