Generative artificial intelligence in language education: ways to solve the plagiarism problem

Introduction. The article addresses the problem of widespread use by students of conversational artificial intelligence technologies to substitute their own statements and conclusions with artificially generated texts. This issue plays a crucial role in language education due to the specifics of learning conditions and competencies being developed. The aim of this study is an attempt to systematize and substantiate ways to mitigate negative consequences under the spread of artificial speech activities. Materials and methods. To achieve this goal, various scientific research methods are employed: analysis and synthesis of scholars' works on issues related to student-teacher interaction with artificial intelligence tools, regulation and control over the use of such tools by foreign language learners at different educational levels; summarizing vulnerability points of such interactions concerning language education; modeling the educational process for teaching a foreign language while compensating for identified weaknesses through pedagogical means; pedagogical experiment. The methodology of the study was based on the work of Russian and international scientists in the field of problems and prospects of artificial intelligence in education (K. M. Belikova, P. G. Bylevsky, P. V. Sysoev, N. V. Tikhonova, A. V. Fedorov, and others). Results. Analysis and synthesis of scholarly literature on the peculiarities of applying artificial intelligence in education revealed five vulnerable aspects of this process: data obsolescence (delay) upon which text generation is based; data falsification; lack of depth and superficiality in neural network-generated responses; need for detailed prompts; bias and subjectivity. These findings allowed us to outline concrete directions towards solving the plagiarism problem in linguistic education: shifting from continuous texts toward new forms of speech products; reliance on consciously formed strategies of foreign language speech activity so that the process of creating a speech product becomes more important than its result; development of critical thinking and enhancement of cultural components in foreign language instruction using comparative and contrastive analysis methods; step-by-step reflection not only on outcomes but also on the entire cognitive process; strengthening the cognitive component throughout the language learning process. Discussion and conclusions. Research findings can be extrapolated to other areas of higher education. There arises a question about continuing the scientific search for effective solutions to the problem of student plagiarism. The authors call on psychologists, philosophers, and culturologists to join the academic discussion on the ethical, moral, and motivational aspects of addressing the negative effects of introducing new technologies into the sphere of education.