Can Artificial Intelligence Replace Social Media? An exploratory study of human vs. Al-generated grammar explanations

The paper reports on an exploratory study contrasting grammar explanations generated by a GPT AI model and by humans in an online community. Our objective was to investigate whether AI and social media represent competing technologies and consequently if AI can replace social media as a venue for receiving linguistic support. 28 learners of English were asked to rate and choose among three grammar explanations, one of which was generated by an AI model, while the remaining two were produced by members of an online forum. Results show that AI-generated explanations obtain higher ratings and are often chosen as best answers; however, there are differences between learners who perceive themselves as advanced and those who perceive themselves as less proficient. The findings confirm the need for an ecological interpretation of technology integration into language learning. Implications for further research and teaching are discussed.