Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing education while making finding out more available however likewise stimulating disputes on its effect.

While students hail AI tools like ChatGPT for improving their knowing experience, lecturers are raising issues about the growing dependence on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and undermines academic stability, especially with numerous students unable to safeguard their tasks or offered works.

Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a lecturer at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, expressed disappointment over the growing dependence on AI-generated actions among trainees stating a current experience he had.

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"I gave an assignment to my MBA trainees, and out of over 100 students, about 40% sent the precise same answers. These students did not even know each other, but they all used the same AI tool to produce their responses," he stated.

He kept in mind that this pattern prevails among both undergraduate and postgraduate trainees however is especially concerning in part-time and range learning programs.

"AI is a major obstacle when it pertains to projects. Many trainees no longer think critically-they just browse the web, create responses, and send," he added.

Surprisingly, some lecturers are also accused of over-relying on AI, setting a cycle where both teachers and students turn to AI for convenience rather than intellectual rigor.

This debate raises critical concerns about the function of AI in academic integrity and student advancement.

According to a UNESCO report, while ChatGPT reached 100 million monthly active users in January 2023, only one nation had actually released guidelines on generative AI since July 2023.

Since December 2024, ChatGPT had over 300 million people utilizing the AI chatbot each week and 1 billion messages sent every day around the world.

Decline of academic rigor

University speakers are progressively worried about trainees submitting AI-generated tasks without genuinely comprehending the material.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a speaker at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, expressed his concerns to Nairametrics about trainees increasingly counting on ChatGPT, just to struggle with responding to fundamental questions when tested.

"Many students copy from ChatGPT and submit sleek assignments, but when asked basic questions, they go blank. It's frustrating due to the fact that education is about learning, not just passing courses," he stated.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu explained that the increasing variety of top-notch graduates can not be entirely associated to AI but admitted that even high-performing students use these tools.


"A first-class student is a superior student, AI or not, however that doesn't imply they don't cheat. The advantages of AI may be peripheral, however it is making students dependent and less analytical," he said.

- Another speaker, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a different concern that some lecturers themselves are guilty of the exact same practice.


"It's not just trainees utilizing AI lazily. Some speakers, out of their own laziness, create lesson notes, course describes, marking schemes, and even examination questions with AI without evaluating them. Students in turn use AI to produce answers. It's a cycle of laziness and it is killing genuine learning," he lamented.

Students' viewpoints on use

Students, on the other hand, state AI has actually enhanced their learning experience by making scholastic products more easy to understand and accessible.

- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration student at Unilag, shared how AI has considerably helped her learning by breaking down complex terms and offering summaries of prolonged texts.


"AI helped me comprehend things more easily, particularly when handling complicated topics," she discussed.

However, she recalled a circumstances when she utilized AI to send her project, prawattasao.awardspace.info just for her speaker to instantly acknowledge that it was produced by ChatGPT and reject it. Eniola noted that it was a good-bad result.

- Bryan Okwuba, who just recently graduated with a first-class degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, securely believes that his scholastic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He associates his outstanding grades to actively engaging by asking questions and focusing on areas that speakers highlight in class, as they are frequently shown in examination questions.


"It's all about being present, taking note, and taking advantage of the wealth of understanding shared by my associates," he said,

- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing student at UNIZIK, confesses to occasionally copying directly from ChatGPT when dealing with several due dates.


"To be honest, there are times I copy directly from ChatGPT when I have multiple due dates, and I understand I'm guilty of that, many times the lecturers do not get to check out them, however AI has likewise helped me learn faster."

Balancing AI's function in education

Experts think the solution lies in AI literacy; teaching trainees and speakers how to utilize AI as a knowing aid instead of a faster way.

- Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, highlighted the combination of AI into Nigeria's education system, worrying the significance of a well balanced technique that preserves human involvement while utilizing AI to enhance learning outcomes.


"As we navigate the quickly evolving landscape of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is essential that we prioritise human company in education. We should make sure that AI boosts, instead of changes, teachers' important role in forming young minds," he stated

Concerns over AI in Learning

Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity change specialist, attended to growing concerns relating to using expert system (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their potential threats to the instructional system.

- She acknowledged the benefits of AI, however, highlighted the requirement for caution in its usage.

- Akintade highlighted the increasing hesitance among teachers and schools towards incorporating AI tools in finding out environments. She determined 2 primary reasons AI tools are dissuaded in instructional settings: security threats and plagiarism. She explained that AI tools like ChatGPT are trained to respond based upon user interactions, which may not align with the expectations of teachers.


"It is not looking at it as a tutor," Akintade said, discussing that AI does not cater to specific mentor methods.

Plagiarism is another problem, as AI pulls from existing information, frequently without appropriate attribution

"A great deal of individuals require to understand, like I stated, this is information that has actually been trained on. It is not just bringing things out from the sky. It's bringing info that some other people are fed into it, which in essence implies that is another person's documentation," she cautioned.

- Additionally, Akintade highlighted an early concern in AI development referred to as "hallucination," where AI tools would generate information that was not factual.


"Hallucination meant that it was bringing out info from the air. If ChatGPT could not get that details from you, it was going to make one up," she described.

She suggested "grounding" AI by offering it with particular information to prevent such mistakes.

Navigating AI in Education

Akintade argued that prohibiting AI tools outright is not the option, especially when AI presents a chance to leapfrog conventional instructional approaches.

- She thinks that consistently strengthening essential info helps individuals remember and prevent making mistakes when faced with challenges.


"Immersion brings conversion. When you inform individuals the very same thing over and over once again, when they are about to make the errors, then they'll remember."

She likewise empasized the need for clear policies and procedures within schools, noting that many schools must resolve individuals and process aspects of this use.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu has actually resorted to in-class assignments and tests to counter AI-driven scholastic dishonesty.


"Now, I generally utilize projects to guarantee students supply original work." However, he acknowledged that managing large classes makes this method difficult.

"If you set intricate concerns, trainees won't be able to use AI to get direct answers," he discussed.

He emphasized the requirement for universities to train speakers on crafting exam concerns that AI can not easily solve while acknowledging that some lecturers battle to counter AI misuse due to an absence of technological awareness. "Some lecturers are analogue," he stated.

- Nigeria released a draft National AI Strategy in August 2024, concentrating on ethical AI development with fairness, transparency, accountability, and personal privacy at its core.

- UNESCO in a report calls for the regulation of AI in education, recommending organizations to audit algorithms, information, and outputs of generative AI tools to ensure they satisfy ethical standards, oke.zone protect user data, and filter unsuitable content.

- It stresses the need to assess the long-term impact of AI on important abilities like thinking and creativity while developing policies that line up with ethical structures. Additionally, UNESCO advises carrying out age restrictions for GenAI usage to secure more youthful trainees and protect susceptible groups.
- For governments, it advised adopting a coordinated national technique to regulating GenAI, including establishing oversight bodies and lining up guidelines with existing data protection and personal privacy laws. It highlights examining AI threats, enforcing more stringent guidelines for high-risk applications, and guaranteeing national information ownership.