Beginning in the 1950s, the Soviet Union launched an ambitious programme aimed at developing artificial intelligence. Russian artificial intelligence had crushed its capitalist competitor. Pospelov brought prestige to the discipline by “fostering and supporting the artificial intelligence research community for years”, said Kirtchik. This “lobbying” work culminated in the creation of the Russian Association for Artificial Intelligence in 1989. Some of Silicon Valley’s big names also have Soviet AI to thank.