Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technologies in the Cultural Context of Slavic Studies

In recent years, artificial intelligence and digital technologies have progressively opened up new directions for research on Slavic languages, literatures, and cultures, prompting a reassessment of established methodologies, interpretive practices, and forms of knowledge production. The volume Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technologies in the Cultural Context of Slavic Studies examines these developments through a dialogue between linguistic, translational, didactic, literary, and artistic perspectives. Bringing together selected contributions from the second international Renovating Narratives conference, held at the University of Turin in February 2025, the book combines theoretical inquiry with empirical studies to explore the potential and limitations of digital tools and generative models in Slavic studies. The linguistic and didactic contributions investigate the development of corpora and language resources, machine translation and post-editing, literary translation, and applications of AI in language learning and assessment. Particular attention is devoted to less-resourced languages and to the challenges posed by linguistic variation, pragmatic meaning, and culturally specific elements. These studies foreground the importance of critical evaluation and disciplinary expertise in the use of computational tools. The essays included in the literary and artistic section examine the relationship between human and non-human creativity, representations of algorithmic power in contemporary Russian dystopias, and the role of artificial intelligence as a narrative agent, while also exploring the methodological potential of applying literary concepts—such as estrangement—to AI-assisted textual interpretation. Through this interdisciplinary approach, the volume contributes to the debate on the methodological, cultural, and ethical implications of technological change in the humanities, offering scholars, teachers, and translators a basis for further research and the informed integration of digital technologies into Slavic studies.