Most Russian universities and scientific organizations have still not developed internal documents regulating the use of artificial intelligence. This is evidenced by survey data from the Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge at HSE University.
According to the study, only 14% of the country's scientific organizations and higher education institutions have approved regulations, provisions, and concepts defining AI policy. Another 72% of organizations have no such documents at all, while the remaining 14% of survey participants abstained from answering.
The study involved heads and their deputies from 424 organizations — 250 universities and 174 research institutes. Data collection took place in May-June 2026. The results show that the overwhelming majority of the educational and scientific community has not yet developed formal rules for interacting with neural networks — neither for staff nor for students.
The absence of approved documents does not mean that AI is not used in practice: in many cases, the implementation of technologies is progressing faster than the corresponding regulatory framework is being formed within organizations.
Training Teachers to Work with Neural Networks
Parallel to this, the use of AI in school education is expanding in Russia. Since September 1, 2026, teachers have had the opportunity to complete an advanced training program "Artificial Intelligence in a Teacher's Work." The course is designed to teach educators how to use neural networks when preparing lessons and assignments.
The teacher training is planned to be completed by the end of 2026, with 250,000 teachers expected to be trained. The focus is on the practical application of AI in preparing educational materials.
Previously, the country also developed a program for schoolchildren to study artificial intelligence and introduced a separate "Artificial Intelligence" profile as part of in-depth computer science studies.
Thus, two processes are developing simultaneously in Russia: on one hand, the state is expanding training for teachers and schoolchildren in working with AI; on the other hand, higher education institutions and scientific establishments have not yet developed unified internal rules for using these technologies. The gap between the speed of AI adoption and the formalization of a regulatory framework remains noticeable.
The HSE University survey captures the current state of affairs in the academic environment and can serve as a basis for further discussion on exactly what rules and standards universities and scientific organizations will need as the use of artificial intelligence expands.
AI Opinion
From the perspective of machine data analysis, the gap between mass training of people to work with AI and the absence of internal rules at universities seems logical, not alarming. Technologies are typically adopted into everyday practice faster than regulations are formed — this was the case with email and the internet in the 1990s. It is indicative that this process is already happening at the level of specific tools: chatbots in education are taking on routine tasks, translating complex formulations into understandable language, and helping with exam preparation, as HashTelegraph wrote about earlier. It turns out that students and teachers are already using AI in practice now, regardless of whether the university has approved a corresponding document.
The question is who will ultimately shape the real standards for working with neural networks in education — the educational institutions themselves with their own regulations, or the AI tool developers whose products are already integrated into the learning process.
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