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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing education while making finding out more available but also triggering 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 academic integrity, particularly with numerous trainees not able to defend their tasks or offered works.

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

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"I provided a project to my MBA trainees, and out of over 100 trainees, about 40% sent the exact same responses. These trainees did not even understand each other, but they all used the same AI tool to create their actions," he said.

He kept in mind that this trend is prevalent amongst both undergraduate and postgraduate trainees but is especially worrying in part-time and range learning programs.

"AI is a severe challenge when it concerns projects. Many trainees no longer believe critically-they just go on the internet, create answers, and submit," he added.

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

This dispute raises vital questions about the role of AI in scholastic stability and student development.

According to a UNESCO report, while ChatGPT reached 100 million month-to-month active users in January 2023, just one country had released guidelines on generative AI since July 2023.

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

Decline of academic rigor

University speakers are progressively concerned about students submitting AI-generated tasks without really comprehending the material.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a speaker at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, expressed his issues to Nairametrics about trainees progressively relying on ChatGPT, only to deal with answering fundamental questions when checked.

"Many trainees copy from ChatGPT and send polished tasks, but when asked standard concerns, they go blank. It's frustrating since education has to do with discovering, not simply passing courses," he said.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu pointed out that the increasing number of first-rate graduates can not be completely credited to AI however confessed that even high-performing students utilize these tools.
"A superior student is a superior trainee, AI or not, but that doesn't suggest they do not cheat. The advantages of AI might be peripheral, but it is making trainees reliant 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 very same practice.
"It's not just trainees using AI slackly. Some speakers, out of their own laziness, generate lesson notes, course details, marking schemes, and even exam questions with AI without evaluating them. Students in turn utilize AI to produce answers. It's a cycle of laziness and it is killing real knowing," he lamented.

Students' viewpoints on use

Students, on the other hand, state AI has improved their learning experience by making academic products more understandable and accessible.

- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration student at Unilag, shared how AI has significantly aided her knowing by breaking down complex terms and offering summaries of lengthy texts.
"AI helped me understand things more easily, especially when dealing with complicated topics," she discussed.

However, she recalled an instance when she utilized AI to submit her job, oke.zone only for her speaker to immediately acknowledge that it was generated by ChatGPT and decline it. Eniola noted that it was a good-bad impact.

- Bryan Okwuba, who just recently finished with a superior degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, strongly believes that his academic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He associates his exceptional grades to actively engaging by asking concerns and focusing on locations that speakers stress in class, as they are frequently reflected in exam concerns.
"It's all about being present, paying attention, and taking advantage of the wealth of knowledge shared by my colleagues," he said,

- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing trainee at UNIZIK, confesses to occasionally copying straight from ChatGPT when dealing with multiple due dates.
"To be honest, there are times I copy directly from ChatGPT when I have several deadlines, and I understand I'm guilty of that, a lot of times the speakers do not get to check out them, but AI has also assisted me discover quicker."

Balancing AI's role in education

Experts think the option depends on AI literacy; mentor students and lecturers how to utilize AI as a knowing aid instead of a faster way.

- Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, highlighted the integration of AI into Nigeria's education system, stressing the value of a balanced approach that preserves human involvement while utilizing AI to improve learning results.
"As we navigate the quickly progressing landscape of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is vital that we prioritise human company in education. We should make sure that AI boosts, rather than replaces, teachers' important role in shaping young minds," he said

Concerns over AI in Learning

Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity change professional, addressed growing issues concerning making use of synthetic intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their prospective risks to the academic system.

- She acknowledged the benefits of AI, however, highlighted the need for caution in its usage.
- Akintade highlighted the increasing resistance among teachers and schools toward integrating AI tools in finding out environments. She recognized 2 primary reasons AI tools are prevented in academic settings: security risks and plagiarism. She explained that AI tools like ChatGPT are trained to react based on user interactions, which may not line up with the expectations of teachers.
"It is not looking at it as a tutor," Akintade stated, explaining that AI doesn't accommodate particular teaching approaches.

Plagiarism is another problem, as AI pulls from existing information, typically 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 just bringing things out from the sky. It's bringing details that some other people are fed into it, which in essence means that is another individual's paperwork," she warned.

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

She advised "grounding" AI by providing it with specific info to avoid such errors.

Navigating AI in Education

Akintade argued that banning AI tools outright is not the solution, particularly when AI provides an opportunity to leapfrog conventional educational approaches.

- She believes that regularly strengthening essential information assists people keep in mind and prevent making mistakes when faced with challenges.
"Immersion brings conversion. When you tell people the same thing over and over again, when they are about to make the errors, then they'll remember."

She also empasized the requirement for clear policies and treatments within schools, keeping in mind that many schools must deal with individuals and process aspects of this usage.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu has turned to in-class projects and tests to counter AI-driven academic dishonesty.
"Now, I generally use projects to make sure trainees provide original work." However, he acknowledged that managing big classes makes this technique tough.

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

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

- Nigeria launched a draft National AI Strategy in August 2024, concentrating on ethical AI development with fairness, openness, accountability, ribewiki.dk and privacy at its core.
- UNESCO in a report calls for the policy of AI in education, encouraging organizations 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 examine the long-lasting effect of AI on important skills like believing and creativity while creating policies that line up with ethical frameworks. Additionally, UNESCO advises implementing age constraints for GenAI usage to safeguard more youthful students and protect vulnerable groups.
- For federal governments, it recommended adopting a collaborated nationwide approach to managing GenAI, consisting of establishing oversight bodies and aligning regulations with existing information protection and personal privacy laws. It stresses evaluating AI risks, imposing more stringent guidelines for high-risk applications, and ensuring national information ownership.