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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reinventing education while making discovering more accessible however also sparking disputes on its effect.

While trainees 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 scholastic integrity, specifically with many trainees not able to protect their tasks or provided 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 amongst students stating a current experience he had.

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

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

"AI is a severe obstacle when it pertains to assignments. Many students no longer think critically-they simply browse the web, create responses, and send," he included.

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

This argument raises critical questions about the function of AI in scholastic integrity and student development.

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

Since December 2024, ChatGPT had over 300 million people using the AI chatbot every week and 1 billion messages sent out every day around the world.

Decline of scholastic rigor

University speakers are progressively worried about trainees sending AI-generated projects without really comprehending the content.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a speaker at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, revealed his issues to Nairametrics about trainees progressively depending on ChatGPT, just to battle with responding to basic concerns when tested.

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

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu mentioned that the increasing variety of first-class graduates can not be totally credited to AI however admitted that even high-performing students use these tools.
"A first-class trainee is a first-rate trainee, AI or not, but that doesn't imply they don't cheat. The benefits of AI may be peripheral, however it is making students reliant and less analytical," he said.

- Another speaker, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, engel-und-waisen.de raised a various issue that some speakers themselves are guilty of the very same practice.
"It's not simply trainees using AI lazily. Some lecturers, out of their own laziness, produce lesson notes, course describes, marking plans, and even exam questions 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 usage

Students, on the other hand, state AI has actually enhanced their learning experience by making scholastic materials more easy to understand and users.atw.hu accessible.

- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration trainee at Unilag, shared how AI has actually considerably aided her knowing by breaking down complex terms and offering summaries of prolonged texts.
"AI assisted me understand things more quickly, specifically when handling complicated subjects," she explained.

However, she recalled a circumstances when she used AI to send her task, only for her speaker to immediately recognize that it was generated by ChatGPT and reject it. Eniola noted that it was a good-bad result.

- Bryan Okwuba, who just recently graduated with a first-rate degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, firmly thinks that his scholastic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He associates his impressive grades to actively engaging by asking concerns and concentrating on locations that speakers stress in class, as they are typically shown in test concerns.
"It's all about existing, focusing, and using the wealth of knowledge shared by my colleagues," he said,

- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing student at UNIZIK, confesses to periodically copying directly from ChatGPT when dealing with several deadlines.
"To be honest, there are times I copy directly from ChatGPT when I have multiple due dates, and I understand I'm guilty of that, the majority of times the lecturers do not get to review them, but AI has also helped me learn quicker."

Balancing AI's role in education

Experts believe the solution lies in AI literacy; mentor trainees and speakers how to use AI as a learning aid rather than 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 maintains human participation while harnessing AI to improve learning results.
"As we browse the quickly developing landscape of Expert system (AI), it is essential that we prioritise human company in education. We must make sure that AI enhances, rather than replaces, teachers' vital function in forming young minds," he said

Concerns over AI in Learning

Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity change specialist, resolved growing concerns concerning using artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their potential dangers to the academic system.

- She acknowledged the benefits of AI, however, stressed the need for care in its use.
- Akintade highlighted the increasing resistance among teachers and schools toward incorporating AI tools in finding out environments. She recognized 2 main factors why AI tools are discouraged in educational settings: security risks and plagiarism. She explained that AI tools like ChatGPT are trained to respond based upon user interactions, which might not align with the expectations of teachers.
"It is not taking a look at it as a tutor," Akintade said, explaining that AI doesn't cater to specific mentor techniques.

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

"A lot of individuals need to understand, 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 info 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 advancement referred to as "hallucination," where AI tools would generate info that was not factual.
"Hallucination meant that it was drawing out info from the air. If ChatGPT might not get that information from you, it was going to make one up," she discussed.

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

Navigating AI in Education

Akintade argued that prohibiting AI tools outright is not the service, especially when AI provides an opportunity to leapfrog standard educational methods.

- She thinks that regularly strengthening key info helps people keep in mind and avoid making mistakes when faced with obstacles.
"Immersion brings conversion. When you tell people the exact 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, keeping in mind that many schools must resolve the people and procedure elements of this usage.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu has turned to in-class tasks and tests to counter AI-driven academic dishonesty.
"Now, I generally utilize tasks to ensure trainees offer original work." However, he acknowledged that managing large classes makes this approach tough.

"If you set complicated questions, trainees will not have the ability to use AI to get direct responses," he described.

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

- Nigeria launched a draft National AI Strategy in August 2024, focusing on ethical AI development with fairness, openness, accountability, and personal privacy at its core.
- UNESCO in a report calls for the guideline of AI in education, recommending organizations to investigate algorithms, information, and outputs of generative AI tools to guarantee they satisfy ethical requirements, safeguard user information, and filter unsuitable content.
- It worries the requirement to examine the long-lasting effect of AI on critical skills like thinking and creativity while creating policies that align with ethical structures. Additionally, UNESCO recommends carrying out age restrictions for GenAI use to safeguard younger students and safeguard vulnerable groups.
- For governments, it advised adopting a coordinated national method to regulating GenAI, consisting of establishing oversight bodies and lining up regulations with existing data protection and personal privacy laws. It stresses examining AI threats, imposing stricter rules for high-risk applications, and making sure national data ownership.