"Avito" is developing a personal AI assistant "Avi" that will help users search for goods and services through dialogue in natural language. According to Kommersant's sources, about 500 million rubles have been spent on creating the technology, and an application for registration of a trademark has already been sent to Rospatent.
The current stage of the project is testing the model, and a full-fledged launch in all verticals of the platform is planned for 2026. The assistant will clarify the search objectives, parameters of goods and services, compare options and offer the most suitable ones. Unlike the existing Avito recommendation system, the new AI will become a personal consultant capable of conducting a dialogue and facilitating the selection process for users.
The company plans to invest up to 12 billion rubles in generative AI technologies by 2028 and expects to receive more than 21 billion rubles in revenue from their use. According to forecasts, the AI market in Russia will grow by 25–30% in 2025, reaching approximately 1.9 trillion rubles.
Avito's development reflects a global trend: large companies are implementing AI assistants for highly specialized tasks. For example, Wildberries, Яндекс Маркет and VK are already testing or using their models for product selection and description generation. Experts note that the narrow specialization of AI can increase user engagement, speed up selection and increase sales.
An important aspect for Avito is the integration of the assistant without blocking external AI agents, such as "Alisa" from Yandex, in order to maintain the availability of goods for other search services.
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