Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing education while making finding out more available however also triggering disputes on its effect.

While trainees hail AI tools like ChatGPT for boosting their learning experience, speakers are raising issues about the growing reliance on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and weakens academic stability, particularly with numerous trainees unable to protect their assignments or given works.

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

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

He kept in mind that this pattern prevails among both undergraduate and postgraduate trainees but is especially worrying in part-time and range knowing programs.

"AI is a severe challenge when it pertains to projects. Many students no longer believe critically-they just go on the internet, generate answers, and send," he added.

Surprisingly, some speakers are likewise accused of over-relying on AI, setting a cycle where both teachers and students turn to AI for convenience instead of intellectual rigor.

This debate raises crucial concerns 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, only one country had actually launched regulations on generative AI as of July 2023.

As of December 2024, ChatGPT had more than 300 million people utilizing the AI chatbot each week and 1 billion messages sent out every day worldwide.

Decline of scholastic rigor

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

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, revealed his concerns to Nairametrics about trainees significantly counting on ChatGPT, only to deal with answering fundamental questions when tested.

"Many students copy from ChatGPT and submit sleek tasks, however when asked basic concerns, they go blank. It's frustrating due to the fact that education is about discovering, not just passing courses," he said.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu explained that the increasing variety of superior graduates can not be entirely credited to AI but admitted that even high-performing trainees use these tools.
"A first-class student is a first-rate trainee, AI or not, but that doesn't suggest 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 different issue that some lecturers themselves are guilty of the very same practice.
"It's not just trainees using AI lazily. Some speakers, out of their own laziness, produce lesson notes, course lays out, marking schemes, and even exam concerns with AI without reviewing them. Students in turn use AI to create answers. It's a cycle of laziness and it is eliminating real learning," he lamented.

Students' perspectives on use

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

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

However, she remembered a circumstances when she used AI to send her task, only for her speaker to instantly recognize that it was generated by ChatGPT and decline 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 thinks that his scholastic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He associates his impressive grades to actively engaging by asking questions and focusing on areas that speakers stress in class, as they are often reflected in test questions.
"It's everything about being present, taking note, and tapping into the wealth of understanding shared by my colleagues," he stated,

- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing trainee at UNIZIK, admits to sometimes copying directly from ChatGPT when facing multiple due dates.
"To be truthful, there are times I copy directly from ChatGPT when I have multiple deadlines, and I understand I'm guilty of that, a lot of times the speakers do not get to read through them, but AI has actually also assisted me learn much faster."

Balancing AI's function in education

Experts think the service depends on AI literacy; teaching trainees and lecturers how to utilize AI as a learning help instead of a faster way.

- Minister of Education, engel-und-waisen.de Dr. Tunji Alausa, highlighted the integration of AI into Nigeria's education system, worrying the importance of a balanced approach that maintains human involvement while utilizing AI to enhance discovering results.
"As we navigate the quickly evolving landscape of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is crucial that we prioritise human agency in education. We must make sure that AI enhances, instead of changes, educators' crucial function in shaping young minds," he said

Concerns over AI in Learning

Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity transformation expert, dealt with growing concerns regarding using artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their potential risks to the academic system.

- She acknowledged the advantages of AI, nevertheless, emphasized the need for care in its use.
- Akintade highlighted the increasing hesitance amongst educators and schools towards incorporating AI tools in discovering environments. She recognized 2 primary reasons AI tools are dissuaded in instructional settings: security risks and plagiarism. She discussed that AI tools like ChatGPT are trained to respond based upon user interactions, which might not line up with the expectations of educators.
"It is not taking a look at it as a tutor," Akintade stated, describing that AI doesn't cater to specific teaching approaches.

Plagiarism is another problem, as AI pulls from existing data, typically without correct attribution

"A great deal of individuals require 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 info that some other individuals are fed into it, which in essence suggests that is another individual's paperwork," she cautioned.

- Additionally, Akintade highlighted an early concern in AI development referred to as "hallucination," where AI tools would create details that was not accurate.
"Hallucination indicated that it was highlighting details from the air. If ChatGPT might not get that details from you, it was going to make one up," she discussed.

She recommended "grounding" AI by supplying it with specific details to prevent such mistakes.

Navigating AI in Education

Akintade argued that banning AI tools outright is not the option, particularly when AI presents a chance to leapfrog traditional educational approaches.

- She believes that regularly enhancing essential info helps individuals keep in mind and prevent making errors when confronted with difficulties.
"Immersion brings conversion. When you inform people the same thing over and over again, when they are about to make the mistakes, then they'll keep in mind."

She also empasized the requirement for clear policies and treatments within schools, noting that many schools should deal with individuals and procedure aspects of this use.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu has resorted to in-class assignments and tests to counter AI-driven scholastic dishonesty.
"Now, I mainly use projects to ensure students provide original work." However, he acknowledged that managing big classes makes this method difficult.

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

He emphasized the need for universities to train lecturers on crafting exam questions that AI can not easily solve while acknowledging that some speakers struggle to counter 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, concentrating on ethical AI advancement with fairness, openness, accountability, and personal privacy at its core.
- UNESCO in a report calls for the regulation of AI in education, advising institutions to audit algorithms, information, and outputs of generative AI tools to ensure they satisfy ethical standards, user data, and filter unsuitable content.
- It stresses the need to assess the long-term impact of AI on vital skills like believing and imagination while producing policies that align with ethical structures. Additionally, UNESCO advises carrying out age limitations for GenAI use to protect younger students and protect susceptible groups.
- For federal governments, it recommended adopting a collaborated nationwide technique to regulating GenAI, including establishing oversight bodies and aligning guidelines with existing information security and personal privacy laws. It highlights evaluating AI threats, implementing more stringent guidelines for high-risk applications, and ensuring national information ownership.