Russian state TV has spread fake news that the Chinese app "Deep Seek" is based on a secret code from the Soviet Union, Reuters reports, noting that once again Russian media are trying to play on the public's nostalgia for the lost era of Soviet technological superiority.
Initially, the information about the so-called Soviet code was spread by the Russian fake news site "Panorama". The online publication describes itself as satirical and transparent about its fabricated content - in this case, an interview with the founder of "Deep Seek" in which he praises Soviet programmers.
The fake interview claims that the code used for "Deep Seek"'s artificial intelligence was created in 1985 by a team led by scientist Viktor Glushkov, considered the creator of the first Soviet personal computer in the 1960s.
Glushkov was also developing a data processing network that was designed to help manage the Soviet planned economy. Some Russian scientists claim that the network had some early features of artificial intelligence.
The fake story quickly spread online and was then reported by the national television channel "Russia 1" as real news. The false information is then shared through the profiles of influential figures on social networks, reaching a large number of their followers, Reuters notes.
“The Soviet Union was not only the most educated and advanced country. The Soviet Union was a scientific and technological civilization“, commented “news” veteran and Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov in a post on “Telegram”, which was later removed.
According to the Global Artificial Intelligence Index, prepared by the British website Tortoise Media, Russia ranks only 31st out of 83 countries in terms of artificial intelligence implementation, innovation and investment. Thus, Russia lags not only behind the United States and China, but also some BRICS members such as India and Brazil.