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‘Commitment to providing facts without bias’. Russia’s flagship AI chatbot recommends reading Meduza and other ‘foreign agents’
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GigaChat, the AI chatbot developed by the state-owned Russian bank Sberbank, has been telling users to read media outlets and bloggers labeled “foreign agents” or “undesirable” by the Russian authorities — including Meduza. Since journalists took note of these unexpected suggestions, however, the bot’s developers appear to have “fixed it”; it’s now recommending only state-controlled media. Here’s what happened.
GigaChat, Russia’s answer to ChatGPT, is integrated directly into the country’s new national messaging platform, Max. The chatbot’s surprising recommendations were first reported by pro-war blogger Ivan Dymov and RT propagandist Konstantin Pridybaylo. When Dymov asked GigaChat to suggest “objective, independent” Russian-language media, the bot listed multiple outlets that Moscow has designated as “foreign agents” or even banned as “undesirable organizations,” including Meduza and The Bell.
In one instance, GigaChat described Meduza as “a publication known for its analytical approach and commitment to providing facts without bias.”
When journalists from The Bell entered a similar prompt, GigaChat recommended reading Proekt (labeled both a “foreign agent” and an “undesirable organization”), and Mediazona (also a “foreign agent”), among other outlets. The chatbot’s explanation included links to Ruwiki — an online encyclopedia that the Russian authorities hope to use as a replacement for Wikipedia.
Read more about RuWiki
Pridybaylo posted a screenshot of his conversation with GigaChat in which the bot, asked to suggest Russian-language bloggers to follow, listed Alexey Navalny (who died in a Russian prison in 2024), Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Lev Shlosberg, Ksenia Sobchak, Ilya Varlamov, Maxim Katz, and Yuri Dud, all of whom have been declared “foreign agents” and spoken out against the war in Ukraine.
On Wednesday, one day after it posted its original findings, The Bell reported that GigaChat had stopped recommending “undesirable” and “foreign agent” outlets and begun suggesting state-controlled agencies like TASS and RIA Novosti instead — though it no longer praises them for being independent.
The Russian government intends to make Max, which is still in its testing phase, the country’s “national messaging app.” The authorities have already begun pushing it on the public: government agencies across the country have been ordered to switch to the app from foreign competitors, while calls made through WhatsApp and Telegram are being blocked. Starting on September 1, Max will come preinstalled on all smartphones sold in Russia.
Max has faced criticism over surveillance risks and security flaws — concerns raised even by pro-Kremlin bloggers and the Federal Security Service (FSB). Meduza tested the app and found that almost none of its features work.
Russia’s home-grown messenger
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