Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing education while making discovering more available but also stimulating disputes on its effect.

While students hail AI tools like ChatGPT for improving their learning experience, speakers are raising concerns about the growing reliance on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and undermines scholastic stability, especially with numerous students not able to protect their assignments or provided works.

Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, prawattasao.awardspace.info a lecturer at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, revealed disappointment over the growing reliance on AI-generated actions amongst students stating a current experience he had.

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"I provided a project to my MBA students, and out of over 100 trainees, about 40% submitted the exact same responses. These trainees did not even know each other, but they all used the exact same AI tool to generate their responses," he stated.

He noted that this pattern is widespread among both undergraduate and postgraduate students however is particularly worrying in part-time and range learning programs.

"AI is a severe challenge when it comes to assignments. Many students no longer think critically-they just go on the internet, create responses, and submit," he added.

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

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

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

As of December 2024, ChatGPT had more than 300 million people utilizing the AI chatbot weekly and 1 billion messages sent every day all over the world.

Decline of academic rigor

University speakers are increasingly worried about trainees sending AI-generated tasks without genuinely understanding the material.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, expressed his issues to Nairametrics about trainees progressively relying on ChatGPT, only to have a hard time with responding to fundamental concerns when checked.

"Many students copy from ChatGPT and submit refined assignments, however when asked standard concerns, they go blank. It's disappointing because education is about discovering, not simply passing courses," he said.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu pointed out that the increasing number of first-class graduates can not be completely attributed to AI but confessed that even high-performing trainees utilize these tools.


"A first-class student is a superior student, AI or not, however that doesn't imply they don't cheat. The benefits of AI may be peripheral, but it is making trainees reliant and less analytical," he stated.

- Another speaker, accc.rcec.sinica.edu.tw Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a different issue that some speakers themselves are guilty of the same practice.


"It's not just students using AI lazily. Some lecturers, out of their own laziness, create lesson notes, course details, marking plans, and even test questions with AI without reviewing them. Students in turn use AI to generate answers. It's a cycle of laziness and it is eliminating real knowing," he regreted.

Students' point of views on use

Students, on the other hand, state AI has enhanced their knowing experience by making academic products more reasonable and accessible.

- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration student at Unilag, shared how AI has significantly helped her knowing by breaking down complex terms and providing summaries of prolonged texts.


"AI assisted me comprehend things more quickly, particularly when dealing with complex topics," she explained.

However, she recalled an instance when she utilized AI to send her task, just for her lecturer to right away acknowledge that it was generated by ChatGPT and reject it. Eniola kept in mind that it was a good-bad result.

- Bryan Okwuba, who recently finished with a first-rate degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, firmly believes that his academic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He attributes his outstanding grades to actively interesting by asking concerns and concentrating on areas that lecturers stress in class, as they are frequently shown in test questions.


"It's all about existing, taking note, and using the wealth of knowledge shared by my colleagues," he said,

- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing trainee at UNIZIK, admits to periodically copying directly from ChatGPT when dealing with numerous deadlines.


"To be honest, there are times I copy straight from ChatGPT when I have several deadlines, and I know I'm guilty of that, a lot of times the speakers do not get to read through them, however AI has also assisted me find out much faster."

Balancing AI's role in education

Experts think the option lies in AI literacy; mentor trainees and speakers how to utilize 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, worrying the importance of a balanced technique that keeps human involvement while utilizing AI to enhance discovering outcomes.


"As we browse the rapidly progressing landscape of Expert system (AI), it is essential that we prioritise human firm in education. We must ensure that AI enhances, rather than changes, educators' vital function in shaping young minds," he said

Concerns over AI in Learning

Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity transformation specialist, dealt with growing concerns relating to the usage of synthetic intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their prospective dangers to the instructional system.

- She acknowledged the advantages of AI, nevertheless, emphasized the requirement for care in its use.

- Akintade highlighted the increasing hesitance among teachers and schools towards including AI tools in discovering environments. She recognized 2 primary reasons why AI tools are discouraged in educational settings: security risks 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 looking at it as a tutor," Akintade said, describing that AI does not cater to specific teaching methods.

Plagiarism is another problem, as AI pulls from existing information, typically without appropriate attribution

"A lot of people need to understand, like I stated, this is information 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 implies that is another individual's documents," she cautioned.

- Additionally, Akintade highlighted an early problem in AI development called "hallucination," where AI tools would create details that was not factual.


"Hallucination implied that it was highlighting details 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 supplying it with specific info to avoid such errors.

Navigating AI in Education

Akintade argued that prohibiting AI tools outright is not the service, particularly when AI provides a chance to leapfrog conventional instructional techniques.

- She thinks that consistently enhancing key info helps individuals remember and prevent making mistakes when confronted with challenges.


"Immersion brings conversion. When you tell individuals the same thing over and over again, when they will make the mistakes, then they'll remember."

She likewise empasized the requirement for clear policies and procedures within schools, ai-db.science noting that numerous schools need to attend to the people and procedure elements of this use.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu has actually turned to in-class projects and tests to counter AI-driven scholastic dishonesty.


"Now, I generally utilize assignments to ensure students provide initial work." However, he acknowledged that managing large classes makes this approach hard.

"If you set complex concerns, trainees won't be able to utilize AI to get direct responses," he discussed.

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

- Nigeria released a draft National AI Strategy in August 2024, focusing on ethical AI advancement with fairness, openness, accountability, and personal privacy at its core.

- UNESCO in a report requires the regulation of AI in education, advising organizations to examine algorithms, information, and outputs of generative AI tools to ensure they meet ethical requirements, secure 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 implementing age constraints for GenAI use to safeguard more youthful trainees and protect vulnerable groups.
- For governments, it advised embracing a collaborated nationwide approach to managing GenAI, including establishing oversight bodies and lining up policies with existing data protection and personal privacy laws. It stresses assessing AI dangers, enforcing more stringent guidelines for high-risk applications, and ensuring nationwide data ownership.