Russian Entrepreneurs Eager to Embrace AI—but Want Human Oversight

A new survey shows that small business owners in Russia are open to using AI for routine tasks, though most want a human to verify the results.

Russian entrepreneurs are increasingly open to using neural networks in their day-to-day operations. According to a survey conducted by Yandex Market of more than 1,200 online marketplace sellers, 42% are ready to delegate specific tasks to artificial intelligence, while 7% would entrust AI with the majority of their workflow.

However, 68% said they would only do so if a human checks the results. The top reasons for adopting AI tools include saving time (37%) and reducing the risk of human error (24%). Other motivations include cutting payroll expenses (22%) and improving the accuracy of forecasting and analytics (24%).

Sellers most often want AI to handle product descriptions (62%) and generate images for listings (37%). Additional use cases include information retrieval, sales and competitor analysis, and demand forecasting.

Despite this enthusiasm, a majority—51%—say they would prefer to delegate AI-related work to an assistant, rather than interact with neural networks directly. Notably, 70% believe this assistant should be an experienced AI user. One in three is willing to allocate budget to hire a dedicated specialist for this role.