Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing education while making finding out more accessible however also stimulating debates on its impact.

While students hail AI tools like ChatGPT for enhancing their learning experience, lecturers are raising issues about the growing reliance on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and undermines academic integrity, particularly with many trainees unable to protect their tasks or offered works.

Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a speaker at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, revealed disappointment over the growing dependence on AI-generated actions amongst trainees recounting a current experience he had.

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"I gave a project to my MBA students, and out of over 100 trainees, about 40% submitted the exact very same answers. These students did not even know each other, however they all used the exact same AI tool to generate their responses," he stated.

He noted that this trend is prevalent among both undergraduate and postgraduate students but is especially worrying in part-time and distance knowing programs.

"AI is a serious challenge when it pertains to tasks. Many trainees no longer believe critically-they just go on the internet, generate answers, and send," he included.

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

This dispute raises vital questions about the role of AI in academic stability and trainee development.

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

Since December 2024, ChatGPT had over 300 million individuals utilizing the AI chatbot every week and 1 billion messages sent every day worldwide.

Decline of scholastic rigor

University speakers are progressively concerned about trainees sending AI-generated projects without genuinely understanding the material.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a speaker at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, revealed his issues to Nairametrics about trainees significantly depending on ChatGPT, only to fight with addressing fundamental concerns when checked.

"Many trainees copy from ChatGPT and send polished tasks, but when asked basic concerns, they go blank. It's frustrating because education is about finding out, not simply passing courses," he stated.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu that the increasing number of top-notch graduates can not be completely credited to AI but confessed that even high-performing trainees utilize these tools.
"A superior trainee is a top-notch trainee, AI or not, but that does not suggest they do not cheat. The advantages of AI might be peripheral, but it is making students dependent and less analytical," he said.

- Another lecturer, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, bahnreise-wiki.de raised a different issue that some lecturers themselves are guilty of the exact same practice.
"It's not just students using AI slackly. Some speakers, out of their own laziness, create lesson notes, course outlines, marking plans, and even test questions with AI without examining them. Students in turn use AI to create answers. It's a cycle of laziness and it is eliminating genuine learning," he regreted.

Students' point of views on use

Students, on the other hand, say AI has actually improved their knowing experience by making scholastic products more easy to understand and accessible.

- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration trainee at Unilag, shared how AI has considerably helped her knowing by breaking down complex terms and providing summaries of prolonged texts.
"AI helped me comprehend things more easily, especially when dealing with intricate topics," she explained.

However, she remembered a circumstances when she utilized AI to submit her task, just for wolvesbaneuo.com her speaker to right away recognize that it was produced by ChatGPT and oke.zone reject it. Eniola kept in mind that it was a good-bad result.

- Bryan Okwuba, who just recently finished with a first-class degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, securely thinks 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 lecturers emphasize in class, as they are frequently reflected in examination concerns.
"It's all about being present, paying attention, and taking advantage of the wealth of knowledge shared by my colleagues," he stated,

- Tunde Awoshita, archmageriseswiki.com a final-year marketing trainee at UNIZIK, confesses to periodically copying straight from ChatGPT when dealing with multiple due dates.
"To be sincere, there are times I copy straight from ChatGPT when I have multiple due dates, and I understand I'm guilty of that, most times the speakers don't get to review them, but AI has actually also helped me find out quicker."

Balancing AI's function in education

Experts believe the solution depends on AI literacy; mentor trainees and lecturers how to use AI as a learning help rather than a shortcut.

- Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, highlighted the combination of AI into Nigeria's education system, worrying the value of a balanced technique that maintains human involvement while utilizing AI to enhance finding out results.
"As we navigate the quickly developing landscape of Expert system (AI), it is important that we prioritise human company in education. We must guarantee that AI enhances, rather than changes, educators' crucial role in shaping young minds," he said

Concerns over AI in Learning

Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity improvement expert, attended to growing issues relating to using synthetic intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their potential dangers to the instructional system.

- She acknowledged the benefits of AI, nevertheless, highlighted the need for caution in its use.
- Akintade highlighted the increasing hesitance among teachers and schools toward incorporating AI tools in discovering environments. She determined 2 primary reasons that AI tools are discouraged in educational settings: security risks and plagiarism. She discussed 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 stated, describing that AI does not accommodate particular mentor approaches.

Plagiarism is another issue, as AI pulls from existing data, often without proper attribution

"A lot of individuals need to understand, like I said, this is data that has actually been trained on. It is not simply bringing things out from the sky. It's bringing information that some other individuals are fed into it, which in essence implies that is another person's paperwork," she cautioned.

- Additionally, Akintade highlighted an early issue in AI advancement called "hallucination," where AI tools would create info that was not factual.
"Hallucination implied that it was bringing out details from the air. If ChatGPT could not get that details from you, it was going to make one up," she explained.

She recommended "grounding" AI by supplying it with specific info to avoid such errors.

Navigating AI in Education

Akintade argued that banning AI tools outright is not the option, particularly when AI presents an opportunity to leapfrog conventional academic approaches.

- She believes that regularly strengthening key info assists individuals keep in mind and avoid making errors when faced with difficulties.
"Immersion brings conversion. When you tell individuals the very same thing over and over once again, when they are about to make the errors, then they'll keep in mind."

She also empasized the need for clear policies and procedures within schools, noting that many schools ought to attend to individuals and procedure aspects of this use.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu has actually resorted to in-class projects and tests to counter AI-driven scholastic dishonesty.
"Now, I primarily utilize projects to make sure trainees provide initial work." However, he acknowledged that handling large classes makes this technique hard.

"If you set complicated questions, trainees will not have the ability to utilize AI to get direct answers," he explained.

He stressed the need for universities to train speakers on crafting exam concerns that AI can not quickly 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, openness, accountability, and privacy at its core.
- UNESCO in a report calls for the guideline of AI in education, encouraging institutions to examine algorithms, information, and outputs of generative AI tools to guarantee they satisfy ethical standards, protect user information, and filter improper material.
- It stresses the need to evaluate the long-term impact of AI on critical abilities like thinking and imagination while developing policies that align with ethical frameworks. Additionally, UNESCO advises executing age limitations for GenAI use to safeguard younger students and secure vulnerable groups.
- For governments, it recommended adopting a collaborated nationwide method to managing GenAI, including establishing oversight bodies and aligning guidelines with existing data protection and personal privacy laws. It highlights assessing AI risks, imposing more stringent rules for high-risk applications, and ensuring national data ownership.