On April 21, a presentation was given to the Faculty of Artificial Intelligence (AI) at Moscow State University (MSU). The new direction is part of the infrastructure that Russian state news agencies call “the unified ecosystem of MSU in the field of artificial intelligence.” It also houses the university’s Artificial Intelligence Research Center, the MGU-270 supercomputer, and the MSU Institute for Artificial Intelligence. The latter organization is officially headed by Vladimir Putin’s daughter, Katerina Tikhonova. Her own He thinks The curator of the entire “ecosystem” is the sources of the T-invariant publication, who are familiar with the architecture of the artificial intelligence infrastructure at Moscow State University. “Medusa” succinctly narrates the investigation of the T-invariant.
What is known about the new Department of Artificial Intelligence at Moscow State University?
- The faculty is headed by Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor of the Russian Academy of Sciences, General Director Ivan Oseledets. His deputy for scientific work was Anton Konushin, Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Scientific Director of the Moscow State University Research Center in the field of Artificial Intelligence.
- There is no information about teachers on the college website yet. T-invariant sources indicate that the students will be taught by staff at the Institute of Artificial Intelligence at Moscow State University (the Institute) and the University’s Artificial Intelligence Research Center (the Center). The average age of faculty members is only 30 years, Oseledits explained.
- The first batch will include 36 future bachelor’s and master’s students. Each of these sets has 20 budget slots. The cost of business training is about half a million rubles per year.
- college creature Backed by billionaire Oleg Deripaska. Previously, the entrepreneur’s structures also partially funded the Center for Artificial Intelligence and the Institute of Artificial Intelligence at Moscow State University. Deripaska mainly nurtures the ecosystem through his Intellect charity. But the college is backed by another billionaire’s non-profit organization – “Free deal”.
- Another sponsor of the “ecosystem” is VTB. Katerina Tikhonova cooperates with the State Bank as Director of the Moscow State University Institute of Artificial Intelligence and as President of the Innopraktika Foundation. In particular, with funds from VTB, the Institute holds the annual Data Fusion Awards Forum. The last time this event was held was in April 2026. All key speakers in the field of artificial intelligence from Moscow State University participated in the forum, including Katerina Tikhonova herself. He said On the importance of basic education for specialists (Putin’s daughter has been speaking exclusively via video link for the past few years, be it at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum or the anniversary conference of Innopractik).
How are faculty members connected to China?
- In the new building of the Faculty of Artificial Intelligence, they plan to create a “robot garden to develop control technologies for such systems.” “We intend to have a fleet of robots of various types – from dogs to robots and drones. We already have a list,” Anton Konushin said at the presentation (quoted by TASS). also It is discussed Establishing joint laboratories with Russia and China.
- Engaging with China is likely to be an important focus for new faculty and the entire “ecosystem.” “We and [коллегами из Китая] We are discussing the creation of joint educational programs and dual degree programmes. “Of course we will,” Konushin said.
- Cooperation with Beijing is already in place: in November 2025, the website of the MSU-PPI University in Shenzhen appeared news Concerning the establishment of two laboratories. One of them, the Laboratory of Artificial Intelligence Algorithms and Applications, fits into the “AI ecosystem” at Moscow State University.
- Scientists at MSU-PPI in Shenzhen are training artificial intelligence on drones. male In May 2024, at the Russian-Chinese exhibition in Harbin, the head of the university’s science and research department, Dmitry Shtarev. According to him, this is one of the “actively developing scientific areas”: “At the exhibition, we presented several models of drones that we are developing. These are classic drones, which are more suitable for delivering large goods, as well as miniature models.”
Why almost nothing is known about Tikhonova’s “AI ecosystem”.
- One source told T-invariant that the “single ecosystem” of which Putin’s daughter is a custodian is completely isolated. “If you look at the plot of ‘Time,’ [о новом факультете ИИ]Then they show the old supercomputer “Lomonosov-2” and not “MGU-270”. This meant that the film crew was not allowed to be there. Lomonosov has nothing to do with Tikhonova’s affairs. There is a clear division there. And it’s not that the new one is completely assembled On gray import charts. No one is allowed to use the new supercomputer, even within the university, except for their own inner circle.
- This was confirmed by T-invariant and another scientist familiar with the situation at the university: “This is the second year I have been asking my colleagues from the Computing Research Center of Moscow State University what is happening with Tikhonova. They just shrugged their shoulders – they are not allowed to be there. They will learn from the news about the creation of the college, as well as the launch of MSU-270.”
- The new MGU-270 supercomputer is still only used for AI-related tasks, and the Lomonosov-2 is aging and crashing regularly, sources interviewed by T-invariant confirm. “In fact, they say to their colleagues, they listened to “Valenki”, that is, they relied on “Lomonosov-2”. “No one has access to MGU-270, only a narrow circle,” noted one of the publication’s interlocutors.
Why is new faculty needed?
- In an interview with Channel One, the rector of Moscow State University, Viktor Sadovnichy, described the tasks of the new structure as follows: “First of all, we will study the issues of artificial intelligence in medicine, genetics, computer vision and such deep issues that require good knowledge of mathematics, computer science and other fundamental topics.”
- But in all major R&D of the AI ecosystem that Tikhonova is building, the possibility of dual use can be traced, notes T-invariant. This will finally become clear as technology customers begin to decide how to use “classic drones, more suitable for transporting large loads”, for example.
- Meanwhile, the entire secret infrastructure has already been built: first of all, closed System checks All civil science research, controlled by the FSB. This system operates more stringently than in the Soviet Union, sums up T-invariant.