Yandex reported a significant increase in the usage of its Alice AI service. In the first week of September 2026, the number of users and requests to the neural network grew fivefold compared to the same period in 2025. The company noted that this growth exceeded typical seasonal fluctuations.
As of early autumn, the weekly audience of the service reached 41 million users. Daily active users increased by 40 percent compared to August 2026. The nature of user queries has also shifted: educational requests tripled to 14 percent of the total, translation requests rose by 48 percent, and business-related queries grew by 14 percent.
The platform expanded its functionality over the past year by introducing AI agents for research, price comparison, and booking, alongside a math tutor for students. Users also gained access to AI personas, image and short video generation, a voice mode, and personalization features. These updates followed a major model refresh in June 2026.
