Maxim Yermolovich, Minister for Competition and Antitrust Regulation of the EEC, spoke about the key challenges, international experience, and practices of antitrust authorities of the Eurasian Economic Commission member states on 28 May during the EEF-2026 session “Artificial Intelligence and the New Paradigm of Competition: Threats or Drivers for the Development of the EAEU Cross-Border Markets?”
“For an antitrust authority, artificial intelligence is simultaneously an object of regulation and one of the most important working tools,” noted Maxim Yermolovich. “Analysing ecosystems, detecting algorithmic collusion, and identifying signs of covert coordination — solving these tasks through traditional methods requires tremendous costs and resources. Manual analysis in a digital environment is ineffective. Neural networks are capable of retrieving publicly available facts, but comprehensive analytical work without verified data and human expertise is currently impossible. AI is a powerful assistant, but not a replacement for the regulator.”
During the session, Yerlan Alzhan, Deputy Chairman of the Agency for Protection and Development of Competition of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and Grigory Radionov, Deputy Head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation, shared their experience in applying artificial intelligence technologies within national antitrust authorities.
The discussion was also attended by Nazgul Bazhaeva, Director of the Department for Regional Digital Development at the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan; Alexia Waweru, Head of Legal Affairs at the Competition and Consumer Commission of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA); as well as representatives of the business and scientific communities.
The global AI market was valued at USD 757 billion in 2025, with projections indicating growth to USD 4.2 trillion by 2035.
