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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing education while making finding out more accessible but also stimulating debates on its effect.

While students hail AI tools like ChatGPT for enhancing their learning experience, speakers are raising issues about the growing dependence on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and weakens academic integrity, especially with numerous students unable to defend their projects or given works.

Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a lecturer at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, expressed aggravation over the growing dependence on AI-generated actions among students recounting a recent experience he had.

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

He kept in mind that this pattern prevails among both undergraduate and postgraduate trainees but is particularly concerning in and distance knowing programs.

"AI is a serious challenge when it comes to projects. Many students no longer think critically-they simply go online, create answers, and send," he added.

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

This dispute raises critical concerns about the function of AI in academic integrity and student development.

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

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

Decline of academic rigor

University lecturers are progressively worried about students sending AI-generated projects without truly understanding the material.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, hikvisiondb.webcam a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, expressed his issues to Nairametrics about trainees increasingly depending on ChatGPT, just to fight with responding to fundamental concerns when evaluated.

"Many trainees copy from ChatGPT and send polished projects, however when asked standard concerns, they go blank. It's disappointing since education has to do with learning, not just passing courses," he stated.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu explained that the increasing variety of first-rate graduates can not be completely credited to AI but confessed that even high-performing students use these tools.
"A superior trainee is a first-rate trainee, AI or not, but that does not indicate they do not cheat. The advantages of AI may be peripheral, but it is making trainees reliant and less analytical," he said.

- Another lecturer, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a different issue that some speakers themselves are guilty of the exact same practice.
"It's not just trainees using AI lazily. Some speakers, out of their own laziness, generate lesson notes, course details, marking plans, and even exam questions with AI without evaluating them. Students in turn use AI to create responses. It's a cycle of laziness and it is eliminating genuine learning," he lamented.

Students' point of views on usage

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

- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration student at Unilag, shared how AI has actually considerably assisted her learning by breaking down complex terms and offering summaries of prolonged texts.
"AI helped me understand things more easily, especially when handling intricate topics," she explained.

However, she recalled a circumstances when she utilized AI to submit her task, just for her speaker to instantly acknowledge that it was created by ChatGPT and decline 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, firmly believes that his scholastic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He associates his outstanding grades to actively appealing by asking questions and focusing on locations that speakers highlight in class, as they are frequently reflected in test questions.
"It's everything about being present, taking note, and tapping into the wealth of understanding shared by my coworkers," he said,

- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing student at UNIZIK, admits to sometimes copying straight from ChatGPT when facing multiple due dates.
"To be honest, there are times I copy straight from ChatGPT when I have several due dates, and I understand I'm guilty of that, many times the speakers don't get to go through them, but AI has actually also assisted me learn quicker."

Balancing AI's role in education

Experts think the option depends on AI literacy; mentor trainees and lecturers how to use AI as a learning aid instead of a shortcut.

- Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, highlighted the combination of AI into Nigeria's education system, parentingliteracy.com stressing the importance of a well balanced technique that keeps human participation while utilizing AI to enhance finding out results.
"As we browse the rapidly progressing landscape of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is important that we prioritise human agency in education. We should guarantee that AI enhances, instead of changes, teachers' important role in forming young minds," he stated

Concerns over AI in Learning

Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity improvement professional, resolved growing concerns concerning the use of synthetic intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their possible dangers to the instructional system.

- She acknowledged the benefits of AI, nevertheless, highlighted the need for care in its use.
- Akintade highlighted the increasing resistance amongst educators and schools toward including AI tools in learning environments. She recognized 2 primary reasons AI tools are discouraged in instructional settings: security threats and plagiarism. She described that AI tools like ChatGPT are trained to respond based on user interactions, which may not align with the expectations of teachers.
"It is not taking a look at it as a tutor," Akintade stated, describing that AI doesn't deal with specific mentor techniques.

Plagiarism is another concern, as AI pulls from existing data, often without appropriate attribution

"A great deal of people need to comprehend, like I stated, this is data that has actually been trained on. It is not simply bringing things out from the sky. It's bringing details 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 issue in AI development known as "hallucination," where AI tools would generate details that was not factual.
"Hallucination indicated 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 described.

She advised "grounding" AI by offering it with particular info to avoid such mistakes.

Navigating AI in Education

Akintade argued that banning AI tools outright is not the service, particularly when AI provides an opportunity to leapfrog conventional instructional techniques.

- She thinks that regularly strengthening essential information assists people remember and prevent making errors when faced with difficulties.
"Immersion brings conversion. When you inform people the same thing over and over again, when they will make the errors, then they'll keep in mind."

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

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu has resorted to in-class tasks and valetinowiki.racing tests to counter AI-driven academic dishonesty.
"Now, I mainly use assignments to ensure trainees supply original work." However, he acknowledged that managing big classes makes this technique difficult.

"If you set complicated concerns, trainees won't have the ability to use AI to get direct answers," he discussed.

He highlighted the need for universities to train lecturers on crafting exam questions that AI can not easily resolve while acknowledging that some speakers struggle to counter AI misuse due to an absence of technological awareness. "Some lecturers are analogue," he said.

- Nigeria released a draft National AI Strategy in August 2024, asteroidsathome.net focusing on ethical AI development with fairness, openness, responsibility, and personal privacy at its core.
- UNESCO in a report requires the regulation of AI in education, recommending institutions to examine algorithms, data, and outputs of generative AI tools to guarantee they fulfill ethical requirements, secure user data, and filter improper content.
- It worries the requirement to assess the long-term effect of AI on vital skills like believing and creativity while developing policies that line up with ethical frameworks. Additionally, UNESCO advises implementing age constraints for GenAI usage to secure younger trainees and protect susceptible groups.
- For federal governments, it recommended embracing a collaborated nationwide technique to managing GenAI, including developing oversight bodies and lining up policies with existing data security and privacy laws. It stresses assessing AI threats, imposing more stringent guidelines for high-risk applications, and ensuring national information ownership.