This article builds on the research by Pirih Svetina and Ferbežar (2005) on the acceptability of Slovene as a non-native language among native speakers. The present study, conducted in 2025, adapted the aforementioned study to the characteristics of the digital age. A survey was conducted in which 99 native speakers assessed five texts on the same topic. Four of these were written by students for whom Slovene is a non-native language, one of which was translated into Slovene using machine translationsoftware. The fifth text was generated by artificial intelligence. The findings indicate that native speakers adopt a critical stance while also exhibiting a high degree of tolerance towards all texts. The linguistically disturbing elements that were highlighted by the respondents included inappropriate word order, endings, and vocabulary. Texts with fewer errors were generally perceived as more understandable, interesting, personal, and correct. Consequently, the highest ratings in all categories were attributed to the texts generated by artificial intelligence and the machine translation. The sole discernible discrepancy in the response to the AI text was the conspicuously lower number of optional general comments it received in comparison to the other texts. The comments on the other texts also demonstrate a significant degree of empathy towards the producers, while the respondents exhibited a notable absence of such empathy towards the AI text.
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