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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing education while making finding out more available but likewise stimulating debates on its impact.

While students hail AI tools like ChatGPT for improving their learning experience, speakers are raising issues about the growing reliance on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and weakens scholastic stability, especially with numerous students unable to protect their assignments or offered works.

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

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"I offered a project to my MBA trainees, and out of over 100 students, about 40% sent the specific very same answers. These trainees did not even understand each other, however they all utilized the same AI tool to generate their reactions," he stated.

He noted that this trend is prevalent among both undergraduate and postgraduate trainees however is especially concerning in part-time and distance learning programs.

"AI is a major obstacle when it concerns assignments. Many students no longer believe critically-they simply go on the internet, generate responses, and submit," he included.

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

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

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

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

Decline of academic rigor

University speakers are significantly worried about trainees submitting AI-generated assignments without genuinely understanding the material.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, revealed his issues to Nairametrics about students increasingly counting on ChatGPT, just to have problem with answering standard questions when evaluated.

"Many students copy from ChatGPT and submit sleek tasks, however when asked basic questions, they go blank. It's disappointing because education is about discovering, not just passing courses," he stated.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu explained that the increasing variety of first-class graduates can not be completely credited to AI however confessed that even high-performing trainees use these tools.
"A superior student is a first-class student, AI or not, but that does not imply they don't cheat. The benefits of AI might be peripheral, but it is making students reliant and less analytical," he stated.

- Another speaker, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a various concern that some lecturers themselves are guilty of the very same practice.
"It's not just trainees using AI lazily. Some lecturers, out of their own laziness, create lesson notes, course describes, marking schemes, and even examination questions with AI without examining them. Students in turn use AI to generate responses. It's a cycle of laziness and it is killing genuine knowing," he regreted.

Students' viewpoints on use

Students, on the other hand, say AI has actually improved their knowing experience by making scholastic materials more understandable and accessible.

- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration student at Unilag, shared how AI has significantly assisted her learning by breaking down complex terms and providing summaries of lengthy texts.
"AI assisted me comprehend things more easily, specifically when dealing with complex topics," she described.

However, she remembered a circumstances when she utilized AI to send her job, only for her speaker to instantly recognize that it was generated by ChatGPT and reject it. Eniola noted that it was a good-bad result.

- Bryan Okwuba, who recently graduated with a top-notch degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, strongly thinks that his academic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He associates his exceptional grades to actively engaging by asking questions and concentrating on locations that speakers stress in class, as they are frequently reflected in examination questions.
"It's all about being present, focusing, and using the wealth of knowledge shared by my coworkers," he stated,

- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing trainee at UNIZIK, confesses to sometimes copying straight from ChatGPT when facing numerous due dates.
"To be truthful, there are times I copy straight from ChatGPT when I have numerous deadlines, and I know I'm guilty of that, many times the speakers do not get to check out through them, but AI has actually likewise helped me learn quicker."

Balancing AI's role in education

Experts believe the solution depends on AI literacy; mentor students and lecturers how to utilize AI as a knowing aid rather than a shortcut.

- Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, highlighted the combination of AI into Nigeria's education system, stressing the importance of a well balanced approach that maintains human participation while harnessing AI to enhance learning results.
"As we browse the quickly evolving landscape of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is crucial that we prioritise human company in education. We must guarantee that AI boosts, rather than changes, teachers' crucial role in forming young minds," he said

Concerns over AI in Learning

Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity improvement specialist, addressed growing issues relating to making use of expert system (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and trade-britanica.trade their prospective risks to the academic system.

- She acknowledged the benefits of AI, however, stressed the need for care in its use.
- Akintade highlighted the increasing resistance amongst teachers and schools toward incorporating AI tools in discovering environments. She identified two main reasons that AI tools are dissuaded in instructional settings: security risks and plagiarism. She described that AI tools like ChatGPT are trained to react based on user interactions, which might not line up with the expectations of educators.
"It is not looking at it as a tutor," Akintade stated, discussing that AI does not deal with specific teaching methods.

Plagiarism is another concern, as AI pulls from existing data, typically without proper attribution

"A great deal of people require to understand, like I said, this is information 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 documents," she warned.

- Additionally, Akintade highlighted an early problem in AI development called "hallucination," where AI tools would generate information that was not accurate.
"Hallucination suggested that it was highlighting info from the air. If ChatGPT could not get that details from you, it was going to make one up," she explained.

She advised "grounding" AI by supplying it with specific info to avoid such mistakes.

Navigating AI in Education

Akintade argued that prohibiting AI tools outright is not the option, particularly when AI presents a chance to leapfrog standard instructional techniques.

- She thinks that regularly strengthening key info helps individuals keep in mind and avoid making mistakes when faced with challenges.
"Immersion brings conversion. When you tell individuals the 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 treatments within schools, noting that many schools ought to address the people and process aspects of this usage.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu has turned to in-class tasks and tests to counter AI-driven scholastic dishonesty.
"Now, I generally use assignments to make sure trainees provide initial work." However, he acknowledged that managing large classes makes this method difficult.

"If you set complicated questions, trainees will not have the ability to utilize AI to get direct answers," he discussed.

He emphasized the need for universities to train lecturers on crafting examination concerns that AI can not easily fix while acknowledging that some speakers struggle 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, accountability, and personal privacy at its core.
- UNESCO in a report calls for the guideline of AI in education, advising organizations to investigate algorithms, data, and outputs of generative AI tools to ensure they meet ethical standards, protect user information, and filter inappropriate content.
- It worries the requirement to evaluate the long-lasting impact of AI on critical skills like believing and imagination while producing policies that line up with ethical frameworks. Additionally, UNESCO recommends carrying out age constraints for GenAI usage to safeguard younger trainees and protect susceptible groups.
- For governments, it encouraged adopting a collaborated nationwide technique to controling GenAI, including establishing oversight bodies and lining up policies with existing data defense and privacy laws. It stresses evaluating AI threats, implementing more stringent guidelines for high-risk applications, and guaranteeing nationwide data ownership.