The article examines the potential of artificial intelligence in entrepreneurial activity in the Russian economy at the present stage of its development in the context of modern challenges. The authors identified Russia’s place in global trends related to artificial intelligence. The authors paid attention to such relatively little–studied aspects of the use of artificial intelligence as the modernization of business processes in all sectors of the economy; improving the labor market through new forms of employment; optimization of migration policy; increasing the efficiency of the institution of self–employment in general and in terms of pension provision for the self–employed in particular; optimization of the size of the «shadow economy»; improvement of entrepreneurial activity through more complete implementation of the functions of an entrepreneur. The authors have identified the high positive potential of artificial intelligence in solving a number of problems in the Russian economy, including: reducing the size of the shadow economy, optimizing the labor market and migration policy, improving business processes and a number of others.The article shows that reducing transaction and transformation costs with the help of artificial intelligence will increase the growth rate of the Russian economy, increase the level of well–being of citizens and fully realize the functions of an entrepreneur in a market economy.