Language tests measure a person's ability to use a language in terms of listening, speaking, reading, or writing. Such tests play an integral role in academic, professional, and immigration domains, with entities such as educational institutions, professional accreditation bodies, and governments using them to assess candidate language proficiency. Recent advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the discipline of Natural Language Processing have prompted language test providers to explore AI's potential applicability within language testing, leading to transformative activity patterns surrounding language instruction and learning. However, with concerns over AI's trustworthiness, it is imperative to understand the implications of integrating AI into language testing. This knowledge will enable stakeholders to make well-informed decisions, thus safeguarding community well-being and testing integrity. To understand the concerns and effects of AI usage in language tests, we conducted interviews and surveys with English test-takers. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first empirical study aimed at identifying the implications of AI adoption in language tests from a test-taker perspective. Our study reveals test-taker perceptions and behavioral patterns. Specifically, we identify that AI integration may enhance perceptions of fairness, consistency, and availability. Conversely, it might incite mistrust regarding reliability and interactivity aspects, subsequently influencing the behaviors and well-being of test-takers. These insights provide a better understanding of potential societal implications and assist stakeholders in making informed decisions concerning AI usage in language testing.

Practising a tool-using task helps people do better in a test of complex language understanding – and the benefits go the other way too. The crossover may happen because some of the same parts of the brain are involved in tool use and language, says Claudio Brozzoli at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research in Lyon, France. One idea is that language evolved by co-opting some of the brain networks involved in tool use. Both abilities involve sequences of precise physical movements – whether of the hands or of the lips, jaws, tongue and voice box – which must be done in the right order to be effective. Brozzoli's team asked volunteers to lie in a brain scanner while carrying out tasks involving either tool use or understanding complex sentences.

Although conversing with artificial intelligence (AI) has been a common plot point for several science fiction movies, the real-life applications are still miles away. However, according to recent media reports, Chinese technology giant -- Baidu has started to make bold strides towards AI by beating Google and Microsoft in a competition designed to test the ability of machine in understanding human language. Baidu, which is often termed as China's Google, surpassed traditional players when it comes to AI and language learning. It has achieved the highest ever score in the General Language Understanding Evaluation (GLUE), which has been widely considered to be the benchmark for AI language comprehension skills. For most humans, the managed score is usually an 87 out of 100, however, Baidu's model, called ERNIE (Enhanced Representation through knowledge Integration has scored a 90, which is a first for any AI models.

Chinese internet giant Baidu is now the world's leader in a critical AI segment for understanding human language, dethroning Microsoft and Google. Baidu, China's biggest search engine, got the "highest ever score" in a test aimed at measuring AI language processing, MIT Technology Review reported, underscoring accelerating competition for the most efficient and human-like AI. The test is called General Language Understanding Evaluation (Glue). While an average person score around 87 points on the test, Baidu was the first to go beyond 90 with its AI system called Ernie, Review reported. Ernie was influenced by Google's Bert and both are inspired by Sesame Street characters.