The article examines the phenomenon of the rapid formation of artificial intelligence (AI) as an object and means of state policy in Russia and other countries. The information basis for the study of this phenomenon is abundant and contradictory. Every day, there is a lot of fragmentary information in various domestic and foreign media about private facts and statements by leaders of different countries about the role of AI in their politics and correctly. In this regard, the main attention was paid to several dozen official documents, which made it possible to compile generalized ideas about the essence and features of considering AI as a subject and means of public policy in Russia and abroad. To study such documents, methods of systematic diagnostics of socio-political and socio-economic processes and phenomena developed and tested at the Federal Research Center “Informatics and Management” of the Russian Academy of Sciences were used. It was shown that at present, government strategies and programs for the development of AI have been adopted and are being implemented in the world, reflecting various state interests in this subject. It is also shown that in many cases, states claim to be world leaders in the development and use of AI. Attention is drawn to attempts to use AI for public administration purposes as a means of total control over public behavior and loyalty of citizens. The assumptions about the long-term continuation of this policy are substantiated.