Sber has sharply intensified promotion of its AI assistant GigaChat on federal TV, with advertising volume in the first half of 2026 increasing by approximately 4 times compared to last year. At certain periods, GigaChat accounted for up to 14% of all the bank's television advertising. In contrast, Yandex's AI products accounted for about 5.5% of the company's TV promotion, as Yandex primarily focuses on online advertising and uses television selectively. According to the latest Mediascope data, "Alice AI" was used by 14.3% of Russians over 12 years old, while GigaChat was used by 4%, and DeepSeek was in between with 9.4%. Experts believe Yandex has established itself as a leader and can focus on user engagement, while Sber needs to quickly close the gap, making mass TV advertising a way to bring GigaChat to a wider audience. The battle is no longer just for brand recognition; in 2025, Yandex invested 55 billion rubles in search and AI, and experimental monetization formats for "Alice AI" generated about 2 billion rubles in revenue.