Interest in AI companions in Russia is growing rapidly. In 2025, the number of users of such services doubled, and the average traffic quadrupled. Especially actively, people in the country communicate with virtual bots that help them cope with stress and anxiety. To understand how this works, science journalist and psychologist Denis Yakovlev created an understanding companion for himself using a neural network.

#ArtificialIntelligence #personalexperience #neuralnetworks #psychology #chatbots

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The surge of interest in artificial intelligence in Russia is happening against a backdrop of intense stress: people barely had time to recover from the pandemic before new problems arose—war and the state’s brazen intrusion into private life. At the same time, psychological help remains expensive: from 2,000 rubles per session in the provinces and several times more in the capital. There are still few qualified specialists, and in small towns and villages, often none at all.

#GPTChat #OpenAI #Analytics #business #lifeinRussia #ArtificialIntelligence #Research #Thescience #psychology #servicesector #chatbots

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Former choreographers, accountants, and fitness trainers, after express psychology courses, record polished videos and take on children and adults as clients. Their clients either become disillusioned with psychology or end up with psychiatrists with worsened problems. The State Duma has been unable to pass a law regulating private psychologists for 12 years.

#business #TheStateDuma #law #health #incompetence #psychology #Russia #market #tendencies #services #privatepsychologists

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In early January 2026, Russian journalist and emigrant Evgeny Safronov tragically died near Paris. This story exposed the problem of vulnerability among people experiencing prolonged stress and social isolation, which many emigrants face. We spoke with staff from the Reforum Help psychological support service about the signs of psychological distress and how to help yourself and others during such times.

#Helpontheforum #WarinUkraine #psychology #Russia #suicide #France #Emigration

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Recently, the Russian project «Word of the Year — 2025» summed up the results of the interim voting. In the nomination «National Word,» the leader was «anxiety» (25%). Why has this happened only now?

#WarinUkraine #state #drones #lifeinRussia #society #psychology #fear #Economy #language

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