Learn Russian: Очевидно, искусственный интеллект анализирует информацию быстрее, чем мы. - Obviously, artificial intelligence analyzes information faster than we do.

Очевидно (obviously) is used here as a parenthetical word to express a high degree of certainty. In Russian, parenthetical expressions are always set off by commas because they express the speaker's attitude but aren't structurally part of the main sentence.

Does Очевидно express exactly the same kind of certainty as Конечно?

Not exactly. While both show strong certainty, Очевидно implies that the conclusion is visibly apparent or based on evidence (literally evident). Конечно means of course and usually signals agreement, a known fact, or an expected outcome rather than an observed deduction.

Could we drop чем and just use the genitive case for the comparison?

Yes, you could say быстрее нас instead of быстрее, чем мы. Both mean faster than us. Using чем plus the nominative case is very common and perfectly interchangeable here, though чем мы can sometimes sound a bit more emphatic or formal.

Why doesn't the Russian sentence include a verb at the very end to match the English do?

In Russian comparisons with чем, you usually just compare the nouns or pronouns directly without repeating the verb or using a dummy verb like do. ...чем мы literally means than we, and the verb анализируем is simply understood from the context.