“We Cannot Live the Old Way”: Russia’s President Calls for Overhauling Workforce Training

Being Ready

Russia’s president argues that the next 10–15 years will bring a period of sweeping technological transformation, in which artificial intelligence will not only replace certain tasks and roles but also give rise to entirely new professions.

“We need to change the entire paradigm of workforce training, all of it. This is not a slogan and not a wish. It is a critical task for the state, for business, and for education,” the head of state said at a meeting of the State Council.

The statement sounded less like a political appeal and more like a diagnosis of a systemic gap. An education model built for an industrial economy is increasingly colliding with a reality in which AI and digital technologies are reshaping job content faster than curricula can be updated.

This is not about incremental modernization but about rethinking the entire pipeline – from school education to corporate training. In this context, workforce policy becomes a shared responsibility of government, business, and educational institutions.

The president warned: “The pace of artificial intelligence adoption is increasing every year. Listen, everything will change. We must be ready for this. We must be ready for the changes that AI is bringing.”

New Roles for a New Economy

“AI is rapidly becoming an everyday tool. It is no longer enough to simply build models; what matters is the ability to embed them into real business processes. That is why cooperation with universities is so important for us: joint programs, new specializations at the intersection of AI and logistics, commerce, and management, and the development of a culture of safe AI use. This combination of fundamental knowledge and hands-on practice is what helps close the talent gap and create new professions – from prompt engineers to AI developers,” said Mikhail Neverov, director of AI development at X5 Group.

The issue extends far beyond sector-specific discussions. Training specialists with AI competencies is directly linked to economic competitiveness, companies’ ability to deploy complex digital solutions, and their capacity to remain competitive in global markets.

This year, universities together with leading IT companies developed 72 new educational programs. By 2030, these programs are expected to train more than 10,000 students who will learn how to work with data and develop and fine-tune AI models. In addition, we are training new AI specialists by upskilling existing employees. For example, at the government’s request, professional development programs on applying AI were launched for civil servants. This year alone, around 500 government employees completed this training

Dmitry Grigorenko

Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation and Head of the Government Staff

Debunking the Myths

Demand for AI-skilled professionals did not emerge overnight. It is this sustained demand that has pushed the education system toward revisiting its approaches to workforce training. One of the early signals came from universities themselves. In 2025, RUDN University publicly discussed how AI is transforming education and why universities are establishing specialized faculties. Yulia Ebzeeva, first vice rector for academic affairs at RUDN, said AI permeates all areas of life, and the key task for the expert community is to debunk myths and ensure that, for the general public, AI becomes an assistant rather than a threat.

At the same time, AI has already entered everyday educational practice. Around one-third of Russian teachers use AI tools to prepare teaching materials and automate certain tasks. However, this process is largely driven by professional communities and individual initiative, indicating adoption without a unified systemic framework.

Academic studies conducted in 2024–2025 also point to a dual reality: strong potential for adaptive learning and analytics, coupled with a lack of standards and infrastructure. Education finds itself at a transitional stage, where opportunities are evident but mechanisms for scaling remain underdeveloped.

The final piece of the puzzle has been the government agenda. Authorities have reviewed initiatives related to quality, safety, and data usage requirements for AI systems. This marked a shift from isolated practices toward the creation of institutional frameworks.

A Period of Transition

In the coming years, the education system is expected to focus on revising curricula and strengthening the practical component of learning. Theory will increasingly be complemented by work on real-world problems, while partnerships between universities and IT companies are set to expand. At the same time, retraining programs are likely to be rolled out for professionals whose roles are being transformed by AI.

Risks remain, including institutional inertia, limited resources, and a potential gap between academic programs and market needs. The result is a picture of a transitional phase in which demand for new skills is already clear, while the system is still searching for an effective response.

This, ultimately, is the meaning of the reforms the president is calling for: “We cannot live the old way. At the same time, we must not lose the fundamental foundations of education systems. These include developing independent creative thinking among schoolchildren and students, analytical skills, and the ability to critically assess outputs generated by artificial intelligence. Under no circumstances should we allow a situation where we end up with intellectual elites and ‘human automatons’ who can do nothing but press buttons. This is a critically important task for the education system.”