Half of Russian residents are willing to pay for premium neural network functions

Neural networks for generating images have ceased to be a "technological feature" — they have become quite firmly embedded in the everyday life of Russians. According to a survey conducted by RuStore among Hi-Tech Mail readers (11,000 people from all regions of the Russian Federation participated in July 2025), every second Russian uses AI to create images, and another 12% plan to join this trend.

The leader of the reasons for using neural networks was interest or entertainment, 72% of respondents said. Only 18% use AI for work or self—presentation, while 2% use it to create avatars.

Russians most often generate images in realistic styles - almost 48% chose this option. Cyberpunk and fantasy are also popular (16%), art portraits (10%), humor (12%), cartoon images (10%) and characters from famous franchises (5%).

In addition, almost half of Russians (45%) are willing to pay for AI content. 20% will consider paid features if there is a trial version, and 13% — if the price "does not hit their pocket." Another 7% are waiting for payment to become available to Russian users, and 5% are already paying or continue to pay for such services.

"Neural networks for image generation have become part of the digital habits of Russians. People are choosing vibrant styles, from photorealism to fantasy, and they are increasingly interested in paid options: additional styles, lifting creation limits, etc.," commented Oleg Afanasyev, RuStore's product director.

Neural networks will be abandoned: companies will transfer customers to almost complete communication with AI in three years

What tasks will be assigned to robot assistants and what will be left for humans?

Igor Bederov, founder of the Internet Search company, NTI SafeNet market expert, told Izvestia on July 28 that government, commercial and medical secrets, information protected by a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), personal data, bank details, passwords and PIN codes should never be disclosed to artificial intelligence.. In addition, messages sent by AI are not protected by attorney-client privilege or other privileges.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.