Russian AI Alisa wins backing of 40,000 in election run-up

Russia's next president could be an artificially intelligent robot that claims'enemies of the people will be shot'. Forty thousand Russians have nominated a piece of AI software on their phones to stand against Vladimir Putin for the 2018 Russian presidency. The AI assistant known as Alisa, similar to the Apple's voice-activated Siri, was created by Russian technology company Yandex. Russia's next president could be an artificially intelligent robot that claims'enemies of the people will be shot'. Since the AI's launch in September, Alisa has stirred controversy on social media, with users sharing a series of contentious statements from the software.