The paper discusses the issues of activating comprehensive research of modern information technologies, in particular the basics of artificial intelligence, in the education system and scientific research of students of higher education in order to form a favorable, effective, qualitative and ethical process of obtaining knowledge in the context of the formation of an information society. The scientific study presents a detailed retrospective analysis of the conceptual and categorical apparatus of “artificial intelligence” from the perspective of generally recognized scientific theories and leading ideas of domestic and foreign scientists for further theoretical and methodological consolidation. The relevance of scientific research lies in the fact that university students strive to learn high-level technologies. These technologies help them to solve the problems of self-control and self-organization on their own. They help to shape the student’s personality, variably thinking, creative personality with a new type and level of thinking. The purpose of the research is also to reveal and systematize the features of scientific discourse regarding the potential, trends and directions of adequate and ethical use of artificial intelligence technologies in the educational process and scientific research of students of higher education as an instrument of educational reform, as a means of increasing the effectiveness of their educational achievements, as a means of intensification and individualization of the formation of professional knowledge and skills of future specialists in the era of public informatization.