In August, the turnover of companies offering "gray" access to foreign AI models via Chinese proxies reached 100–150 million rubles, and the number of such firms grew to 50. The low cost forces small and medium Russian businesses to use these services despite the risk of data leaks and sudden blocking.
These providers route requests to overseas AI services through proxy servers, allowing users to pay far less than official prices, but they operate outside legal frameworks and can be discontinued without notice.