Use AI translation of work instructions as a controlled drafting step, not as an automatic publication path. A sound decision depends on an approved terminology glossary, clearly preserved warnings, an owner for every decision and final review by a person who understands the procedure and both languages. A more fluent translation is not acceptable when it changes the sequence, condition, measurement, prohibition or responsibility in a procedure.
A work instruction is not general communication copy. It directs work on equipment, in a warehouse, in production, in accounting or in an ERP transaction. One substituted term can change an action: "check" is not the same as "approve", "stop" is not the same as "pause", and "at least" and "at most" set opposing boundaries.
For that reason, AI translation of work instructions belongs in a managed business process. The input is not only the source document. It also includes the current procedure version, glossary, warning labels, equipment or ERP-record context, and a clearly named content owner.
The NIST AI Risk Management Framework provides a framework for managing AI risks. It does not confirm the accuracy of an individual translation or the suitability of a particular system for a specific work instruction. Each organisation must therefore define its own controls, acceptance criteria and exception handling.
Terminology control starts before translation is generated. An approved glossary maps a source term to an allowed target term, while also recording its meaning in the operational context. A word pair on its own is often insufficient.
For every specialist term, the glossary can include:
Role names, ERP document statuses, measurements, units, part labels, safety levels and control-point names need particular attention. A name that works as everyday shorthand may not be suitable for a work instruction.
The glossary must have the status of an official input. If a translation tool suggests a more natural-sounding option that differs from the approved term, the glossary takes precedence until the term owner approves a change.
Warnings are not simply paragraphs to translate. They serve an operational function: stopping an action, restricting access, requiring protective equipment or directing escalation.
The translation must preserve:
Do not change modality for better style. For example, "do not start the procedure before verification" must not become a recommendation such as "verification is recommended before starting the procedure". The second formulation weakens the prohibition.
The same applies to conditional statements. When the source limits an action to a particular state, the translation must retain that condition. When the source wording is unclear, do not resolve ambiguity through an assumption during translation. Mark it as an exception and return it to the process owner.
A practical workflow can have six steps.
For more complex processes, it can be useful to connect this workflow to Business process screening . The purpose is not to add controls without reason, but to place control where a changed word can change a work outcome.
Consider a hypothetical example: a production instruction contains a step for entering confirmation in ERP, a mandatory batch check and a warning before handling equipment. An AI draft can support initial processing, but three levels need review before publication.
The first level is the term . Are statuses, batch, confirmation and role names translated according to the approved glossary?
The second level is the procedure logic . Does the sequence remain the same: check, entry, confirmation, escalation on deviation? Are conditions and prohibitions preserved?
The third level is operational use . Can a person at the work location find the correct form, ERP transaction or escalation contact without interpretation?
A document with low process risk, such as a general internal notice, may follow a simpler review path. An instruction affecting safety, quality, financial recording or an official ERP transaction requires stricter review and a clearer decision trail.
An AI system can produce grammatically correct text while misunderstanding local context, an abbreviation, a negation or the relationship between steps. It can also translate the same term inconsistently across documents when the glossary is not part of the controlled input.
Do not use an AI draft as the sole basis for a decision when:
In these cases, the process owner manages the exception. That owner decides whether to clarify the source, extend the glossary, add review or stop publication. A translator should not independently interpret a business rule merely to complete the text.
Before publication, collect and confirm the following items:
If work-instruction translation raises a broader question about ownership of procedures, versions and official ERP steps, talk to the ORKA team about reviewing the process before automation.