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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reinventing education while making discovering more available but also triggering disputes on its effect.

While trainees hail AI tools like ChatGPT for boosting their knowing experience, lecturers are raising concerns about the growing reliance on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and undermines scholastic integrity, iwatex.com especially with many trainees unable to defend their projects or given works.

Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a lecturer at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, revealed aggravation over the growing reliance on AI-generated reactions among a recent experience he had.

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"I offered an assignment to my MBA students, and out of over 100 students, about 40% submitted the exact very same responses. These students did not even know each other, but they all utilized the exact same AI tool to generate their responses," he stated.

He noted that this trend prevails among both undergraduate and postgraduate trainees however is specifically concerning in part-time and range knowing programs.

"AI is a serious challenge when it comes to projects. Many students no longer believe critically-they just browse the web, generate responses, and submit," he included.

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

This debate raises crucial questions about the role 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 actually released regulations on generative AI as of July 2023.

As of December 2024, ChatGPT had over 300 million individuals using the AI chatbot each week and 1 billion messages sent every day around the world.

Decline of scholastic rigor

University lecturers are significantly concerned about trainees sending AI-generated projects without truly understanding the material.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a speaker at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, revealed his concerns to Nairametrics about students significantly relying on ChatGPT, only to have a hard time with responding to fundamental questions when checked.

"Many trainees copy from ChatGPT and submit refined tasks, however when asked fundamental questions, they go blank. It's frustrating because education has to do with learning, not simply passing courses," he stated.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu pointed out that the increasing number of first-rate graduates can not be entirely attributed to AI however admitted that even high-performing trainees utilize these tools.
"A first-rate trainee is a first-class student, AI or not, but that doesn't mean they don't cheat. The advantages of AI might be peripheral, but it is making students reliant and less analytical," he said.

- Another lecturer, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a various concern that some lecturers themselves are guilty of the very same practice.
"It's not simply students using AI lazily. Some speakers, out of their own laziness, produce lesson notes, course details, marking plans, and even examination concerns with AI without examining them. Students in turn use AI to create answers. It's a cycle of laziness and it is eliminating genuine knowing," he lamented.

Students' perspectives on usage

Students, on the other hand, utahsyardsale.com state AI has enhanced their learning experience by making academic products more easy to understand and available.

- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration trainee at Unilag, shared how AI has significantly assisted her learning by breaking down complex terms and offering summaries of prolonged texts.
"AI assisted me comprehend things more quickly, especially when handling intricate topics," she described.

However, she remembered an instance when she utilized AI to send her task, only for her lecturer to immediately recognize that it was created by ChatGPT and reject it. Eniola kept in mind that it was a good-bad result.

- Bryan Okwuba, who just recently graduated with a superior degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, firmly believes that his scholastic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He associates his exceptional grades to actively appealing by asking concerns and focusing on areas that lecturers stress in class, as they are often shown in exam questions.
"It's everything about being present, 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 periodically copying straight from ChatGPT when facing numerous due dates.
"To be honest, there are times I copy directly from ChatGPT when I have numerous due dates, and I understand I'm guilty of that, many times the speakers don't get to check out them, but AI has actually also assisted me learn faster."

Balancing AI's function in education

Experts think the solution lies in AI literacy; mentor trainees and speakers how to utilize AI as a learning help rather than a shortcut.

- Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, highlighted the integration of AI into Nigeria's education system, worrying the importance of a balanced method that maintains human participation while utilizing AI to improve discovering results.
"As we browse the rapidly progressing landscape of Expert system (AI), it is crucial that we prioritise human firm in education. We should ensure that AI boosts, instead of replaces, teachers' crucial function in shaping young minds," he said

Concerns over AI in Learning

Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity improvement specialist, dealt with growing issues relating to making use of expert system (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and mariskamast.net their possible dangers to the educational system.

- She acknowledged the advantages of AI, nevertheless, mariskamast.net highlighted the need for care in its use.
- Akintade highlighted the increasing resistance among educators and schools toward integrating AI tools in finding out environments. She identified two main factors why AI tools are dissuaded in academic settings: security risks and plagiarism. She discussed that AI tools like ChatGPT are trained to react based on user interactions, which may not line up with the expectations of educators.
"It is not taking a look at it as a tutor," Akintade stated, explaining that AI does not deal with particular mentor 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 simply bringing things out from the sky. It's bringing information that some other individuals are fed into it, which in essence suggests that is another individual's documents," she cautioned.

- Additionally, wikitravel.org Akintade highlighted an early concern in AI advancement called "hallucination," where AI tools would create details that was not accurate.
"Hallucination meant that it was highlighting info from the air. If ChatGPT could not get that info from you, it was going to make one up," she described.

She advised "grounding" AI by offering it with specific info to prevent such mistakes.

Navigating AI in Education

Akintade argued that banning AI tools outright is not the option, particularly when AI presents an opportunity to leapfrog traditional instructional techniques.

- She believes that consistently enhancing key details assists people keep in mind and avoid making errors when confronted with obstacles.
"Immersion brings conversion. When you tell individuals the very same thing over and over again, when they will make the mistakes, then they'll keep in mind."

She also empasized the need for clear policies and treatments within schools, noting that lots of schools should attend to individuals and process aspects of this usage.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu has actually turned to in-class tasks and tests to counter AI-driven academic dishonesty.
"Now, I primarily use projects to make sure trainees supply initial work." However, he acknowledged that managing large classes makes this method challenging.

"If you set intricate questions, students won't be able to use AI to get direct responses," he described.

He highlighted the need for universities to train speakers on crafting examination questions that AI can not easily resolve while acknowledging that some lecturers battle to counter AI abuse due to a lack of technological awareness. "Some speakers are analogue," he stated.

- Nigeria released a draft National AI Strategy in August 2024, focusing on ethical AI advancement with fairness, transparency, accountability, and personal privacy at its core.
- UNESCO in a report requires the policy of AI in education, advising institutions to examine algorithms, data, and outputs of generative AI tools to guarantee they fulfill ethical requirements, safeguard user information, and filter inappropriate content.
- It stresses the requirement to examine the long-term impact of AI on important abilities like believing and creativity while creating policies that line up with ethical structures. Additionally, UNESCO recommends executing age restrictions for GenAI usage to secure younger trainees and secure vulnerable groups.
- For federal governments, it recommended adopting a coordinated national approach to controling GenAI, including establishing oversight bodies and lining up policies with existing data security and privacy laws. It emphasizes examining AI dangers, implementing stricter guidelines for high-risk applications, and ensuring nationwide information ownership.