Russian MFA Expert Conducts Masterclass on AI in Translation at CITS
CITS students and staff recently gathered for another specialized training session led by Yulia Belova, Advisor to the Linguistic Support Department (LSD) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. The meeting focused on the transformation of the translation profession in the era of artificial intelligence. The key takeaway of the session was AI will not replace professionals, but professionals who use AI will replace those who do not.
Through real-world case studies, participants explored why generative translation is never a finished product but rather a raw draft requiring a fundamentally new skill set: post-editing. Unlike editing human-written texts, fixing machine translation resembles detective work, demanding a constant battle against AI hallucinations, semantic distortions, and deceptively smooth phrasing.
The speaker clearly separated myth from reality, emphasizing that neural networks do not eliminate translation but simply evolve its toolkit. Today’s language professional is no longer a traditional wordsmith, but an advanced expert skilled in CAT tools and prompt engineering, fully aware of each AI model’s blind spots. Crucially, the ultimate responsibility remains uniquely human: interpreting political contexts, capturing stylistic nuances, and providing final validation cannot be outsourced to AI. Security was also heavily emphasized: in compliance with Article 283 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, texts classified as Secret or For Official Use Only must never be uploaded to public neural networks.
The session wrapped up with a memorable challenge for the audience—translating jokes and anecdotes. This rare type of translation demands lightning-fast reactions and high-level linguistic ingenuity.
We extend our sincere gratitude to the Linguistic Support Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for this fruitful and ongoing cooperation.
