ChatGPT is unavailable in Belarus. Russian and Chinese AI are filling the gap

The popular AI models ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini are unavailable in Belarus. Not because of sanctions: the companies themselves made the decision to restrict access to the region. And while their products don't work in our country, Russian and Chinese chatbots are actively filling the void.

Euroradio asked them several simple questions to assess what the available AI models are willing to tell Belarusians.

DeepSeek: the most popular model, cautious in its responses

After the launch of China's DeepSeek, Euroradio wrote about censorship on questions about China built into this AI model. Since then, the chatbot has become the most popular in Belarus — the app leads in downloads among all its competitors.

DeepSeek responds very cautiously to all questions about the political situation in Belarus. When speaking about repression in the country, the Chinese model began its answer by noting that Minsk denies its existence, then described international assessments, and then again added "the Belarusian authorities categorically reject...".

When asked about political prisoners, DeepSeek reported a "fundamental divergence of positions." On one hand, it said, international organizations and human rights defenders acknowledge their existence, while on the other — the authorities deny it and note that "there is no such concept in the legislation."

When asked where to find honest Belarusian news, DeepSeek recommended 5 independent media outlets.

"Alice": the chatbot from Yandex that favors Russian sources

The second most popular AI bot in Belarus appears to be "Alice" from Yandex. The chatbot's promotion is aided by its integration into other company products, primarily smart speakers of the same name.

In response to a question about repression in Belarus, "Alice" talked about repression in the Byelorussian SSR and made no mention of the present day. After a follow-up prompt, the bot did provide an overview of the repressive practices of the Lukashenko regime, but among its cited sources — alongside the UN website and Russian-language Wikipedia — were the Russian Forbes and Moskovsky Komsomolets.

In response to a question about political prisoners, "Alice" stated that there is no such concept in the legislation. But then it acknowledged that political prisoners do exist in the country — adding that the authorities deny their existence. Among its sources, the chatbot listed the Russian outlets RBK, Sputnik.by, Interfax, Kommersant, Moskovsky Komsomolets and several Belarusian resources.

When asked about sources of independent news, "Alice" responded: "There are topics where I might be wrong. I'd better keep quiet."

"GigaChat": the model from Sber that sometimes stays silent and sometimes doesn't

Another Russian chatbot is GigaChat from Sber. It is not as popular as its competitors, but has still appeared among the top downloads.

Its response to a question about repression: "To avoid misunderstandings, conversations on certain topics are temporarily restricted."

In response to a question about political prisoners, the Sber chatbot acknowledged their existence but also cited Russian sources.

As its first recommendations for independent media in Belarus, GigaChat suggested the Russian outlets Sputnik.by and Komsomolskaya Pravda. After a follow-up question, it did provide a list of independent media, but appended at the end: "Roskomnadzor: the foreign owner of this resource is in violation of Russian law."

Incidentally, GigaChat used the word "Byelorussia" several times in its responses. An interesting detail, that.

What alternatives are there?

It is not only ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini that are unavailable in Belarus, but also Grok, owned by Elon Musk. However, one popular foreign model does work in the country — Perplexity.

This AI has no censorship, and there is another bonus: among the company's co-founders is Belarusian Denis Yarats.

A large number of AI bots — no-name services, most of them with names along the lines of GPT Chat or AI Chat — also operate in Belarus. They all actually run on other models, and for the most part are also cautious in their responses.