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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming education while making discovering more available however likewise sparking debates on its effect.

While students hail AI tools like ChatGPT for improving their knowing experience, lecturers are raising issues about the growing reliance on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and weakens scholastic integrity, particularly with lots of students not able to defend their projects or provided 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 reactions amongst students stating a current experience he had.

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"I offered an assignment to my MBA trainees, and out of over 100 students, about 40% submitted the precise very same responses. These students did not even understand each other, but they all used the exact same AI tool to produce their reactions," he said.

He noted that this trend prevails amongst both undergraduate and postgraduate trainees but is particularly worrying in part-time and distance learning programs.

"AI is a severe challenge when it comes to projects. Many trainees no longer think critically-they simply go on the internet, create responses, and submit," he added.

Surprisingly, some lecturers are also accused of over-relying on AI, setting a cycle where both educators and students turn to AI for benefit instead of intellectual rigor.

This debate raises vital questions about the function of AI in academic stability and student advancement.

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

As of December 2024, ChatGPT had over 300 million individuals using the AI chatbot weekly and 1 billion messages sent every day worldwide.

Decline of scholastic rigor

University lecturers are increasingly concerned about students sending AI-generated assignments without truly comprehending the content.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, expressed his concerns to Nairametrics about trainees progressively relying on ChatGPT, only to deal with addressing basic concerns when evaluated.

"Many trainees copy from ChatGPT and submit refined projects, but when asked basic questions, they go blank. It's frustrating due to the fact that education has to do with discovering, not just passing courses," he said.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu mentioned that the increasing number of first-rate graduates can not be entirely credited to AI however confessed that even high-performing students use these tools.
"A first-class student is a first-class trainee, AI or not, but that does not indicate they don't cheat. The benefits of AI may be peripheral, however it is making students dependent and less analytical," he stated.

- Another speaker, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a various concern that some speakers themselves are guilty of the same practice.
"It's not simply students utilizing AI slackly. Some lecturers, out of their own laziness, create lesson notes, course outlines, marking plans, and even test concerns with AI without evaluating them. Students in turn utilize AI to generate answers. It's a cycle of laziness and it is killing genuine knowing," he regreted.

Students' point of views on use

Students, on the other hand, say AI has enhanced their knowing experience by making academic materials more understandable and wiki.dulovic.tech accessible.

- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration trainee at Unilag, shared how AI has considerably assisted her knowing by breaking down complex terms and supplying summaries of lengthy texts.
"AI helped me understand things more quickly, particularly when handling complex subjects," she described.

However, she remembered a circumstances when she utilized AI to submit her project, just for her speaker to right away acknowledge that it was created by ChatGPT and reject it. Eniola noted that it was a good-bad impact.

- Bryan Okwuba, who just recently finished with a top-notch 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 exceptional grades to actively appealing by asking questions and focusing on areas that speakers highlight in class, as they are frequently reflected in examination questions.
"It's all about existing, taking note, and using the wealth of understanding shared by my coworkers," he stated,

- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing student at UNIZIK, confesses to occasionally copying directly from ChatGPT when facing multiple deadlines.
"To be sincere, there are times I copy straight from ChatGPT when I have numerous due dates, and I know I'm guilty of that, many times the lecturers do not get to review them, however AI has actually also helped me discover faster."

Balancing AI's role in education

Experts think the solution lies in AI literacy; mentor trainees and speakers how to use AI as a knowing 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 well balanced method that keeps human involvement while harnessing AI to enhance discovering outcomes.
"As we navigate the rapidly progressing landscape of Expert system (AI), it is crucial that we prioritise human agency in education. We should make sure that AI enhances, instead of changes, educators' vital function in shaping young minds," he said

Concerns over AI in Learning

Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity change specialist, resolved growing issues regarding the usage of synthetic intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their potential dangers to the instructional system.

- She acknowledged the benefits of AI, however, highlighted the need for caution in its use.
- Akintade highlighted the increasing hesitance among teachers and schools toward including AI tools in discovering environments. She identified 2 primary reasons that AI tools are discouraged in academic settings: security dangers and plagiarism. She discussed that AI tools like ChatGPT are trained to respond based on user interactions, which might not align with the expectations of educators.
"It is not taking a look at it as a tutor," Akintade stated, discussing that AI doesn't deal with particular teaching approaches.

Plagiarism is another issue, as AI pulls from existing data, frequently without correct attribution

"A lot of people require to understand, like I stated, this is data that has 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 individual's documents," she cautioned.

- Additionally, Akintade highlighted an early problem in AI advancement referred to as "hallucination," where AI tools would produce details that was not factual.
"Hallucination indicated that it was highlighting information from the air. If ChatGPT might not get that info from you, it was going to make one up," she discussed.

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

Navigating AI in Education

Akintade argued that banning AI tools outright is not the solution, especially when AI provides a chance to leapfrog conventional educational methods.

- She thinks that regularly reinforcing key details assists individuals keep in mind and prevent making mistakes when faced with challenges.
"Immersion brings conversion. When you inform people the exact same thing over and over again, when they are about to make the mistakes, then they'll keep in mind."

She likewise empasized the need for clear policies and procedures within schools, noting that many schools need to resolve the people and procedure aspects of this usage.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu has turned to in-class projects and tests to counter AI-driven academic dishonesty.
"Now, I mainly use projects to guarantee trainees provide original work." However, he acknowledged that managing large classes makes this technique challenging.

"If you set complicated concerns, students won't be able to utilize AI to get direct responses," he explained.

He stressed the need for universities to train lecturers on crafting test questions that AI can not easily solve while acknowledging that some speakers battle to counter AI abuse 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, responsibility, and personal privacy at its core.
- UNESCO in a report calls for the policy of AI in education, encouraging institutions to audit algorithms, information, and outputs of generative AI tools to ensure they satisfy ethical requirements, secure user data, hb9lc.org and filter inappropriate material.
- It worries the requirement to assess the long-term effect of AI on critical abilities like thinking and creativity while developing policies that line up with structures. Additionally, UNESCO advises executing age restrictions for setiathome.berkeley.edu GenAI use to protect more youthful students and protect vulnerable groups.
- For governments, it advised embracing a coordinated national method to managing GenAI, including establishing oversight bodies and lining up regulations with existing data defense and privacy laws. It emphasizes examining AI threats, enforcing stricter guidelines for high-risk applications, and guaranteeing national data ownership.