Generative AI offers significant opportunities for language learning. Tools like ChatGPT can provide informal second language practice through chats in written or voice forms, with the learner specifying through prompts conversational parameters such as proficiency level, language register, and discussion topics. AI can be instructed to give corrective feedback, create practice exercises, or develop an extended study plan. Instructors can use AI to build learning and assessment materials in a variety of media. AI is likely to make immersive technologies more powerful and versatile, moving away from scripted interactions. For both learners and teachers, it is important to understand the limitations of AI systems that arise from their purely statistical model of human language, which limits their ability to deal with nuanced social and cultural aspects of language use. Additionally, there are ethical concerns over how AI systems are created as well as practical constraints in their use, especially for less privileged populations. The power and versatility of AI tools are likely to turn them into valuable and constant companions in many peoples lives (akin to smartphones), creating a close connection that goes beyond simple tool use. Ecological theories such as sociomaterialism are helpful in examining the shared agency that develops through close user-AI interactions, as are the perspectives on human-object relations from Indigenous cultures.

翻译：生成式人工智能为语言学习提供了重要机遇。诸如ChatGPT等工具能够通过书面或语音形式的聊天提供非正式的第二语言练习，学习者可通过提示词设定对话参数，如语言水平、语域及讨论主题。可指令AI提供纠错反馈、创建练习任务或制定长期学习计划。教师可利用AI构建多种媒介的学习与评估材料。AI有望使沉浸式技术更强大、更多元，逐步摆脱预设脚本的交互模式。对学习者和教师而言，需理解AI系统的局限性——其基于纯统计的人类语言模型，制约了处理语言使用中微妙社会文化因素的能力。此外，AI系统的构建伦理问题及使用中的实际限制（尤其对弱势群体）值得关注。AI工具的强大功能与多用途性，可能使其成为许多人生活中珍贵而常伴的伙伴（类似智能手机），建立起超越简单工具使用的紧密联结。社会物质主义等生态理论有助于审视用户与AI紧密互动中形成的分布式能动性，原住民文化中关于人物关系的视角同样具有借鉴意义。