Expert System (AI) is changing education while making finding out more available but also sparking debates on its impact.

While students hail AI tools like ChatGPT for boosting their learning experience, lecturers are raising issues about the growing reliance on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and weakens scholastic integrity, specifically with many students not able to safeguard their assignments or provided works.

Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a lecturer at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, revealed disappointment over the growing dependence on AI-generated reactions amongst trainees stating a current experience he had.

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"I gave an assignment to my MBA students, and out of over 100 students, about 40% sent the specific very same responses. These trainees did not even understand each other, however they all utilized the exact same AI tool to produce their responses," he stated.

He kept in mind that this pattern is widespread amongst both undergraduate and larsaluarna.se postgraduate trainees but is especially worrying in part-time and distance knowing programs.

"AI is a serious challenge when it concerns projects. Many trainees no longer think critically-they simply browse the web, produce responses, and send," he included.

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

This dispute raises vital questions about the function of AI in scholastic stability and student advancement.

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

Since December 2024, ChatGPT had over 300 million individuals utilizing the AI chatbot weekly and 1 billion messages sent every day all over the world.

Decline of academic rigor

University lecturers are significantly concerned about trainees submitting AI-generated tasks without really understanding the content.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, revealed his concerns to Nairametrics about trainees increasingly counting on ChatGPT, only to battle with responding to basic questions when checked.

"Many trainees copy from ChatGPT and submit refined assignments, but when asked fundamental questions, they go blank. It's frustrating since education has to do with learning, not simply passing courses," he stated.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu explained that the increasing variety of top-notch graduates can not be completely credited to AI however admitted that even high-performing trainees utilize these tools.
"A top-notch student is a superior trainee, AI or not, but that does not suggest they do not cheat. The advantages 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 issue that some lecturers themselves are guilty of the same practice.
"It's not simply trainees utilizing AI lazily. Some lecturers, out of their own laziness, produce lesson notes, course outlines, marking schemes, and even test questions with AI without reviewing them. Students in turn utilize AI to generate answers. It's a cycle of laziness and it is eliminating real learning," he regreted.

Students' viewpoints on use

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

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

However, she remembered an instance when she used AI to submit her task, just for her speaker to instantly acknowledge that it was created by ChatGPT and decline it. Eniola kept in mind that it was a good-bad effect.

- Bryan Okwuba, who just recently graduated 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 associates his outstanding grades to actively appealing by asking concerns and concentrating on locations that lecturers highlight in class, as they are frequently shown in exam concerns.
"It's everything about being present, paying attention, and taking advantage of the wealth of understanding shared by my associates," he stated,

- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing student at UNIZIK, admits to occasionally copying straight from ChatGPT when facing numerous due dates.
"To be sincere, there are times I copy directly from ChatGPT when I have numerous deadlines, and I understand I'm guilty of that, the majority of times the lecturers do not get to read through them, but AI has actually likewise assisted me discover much faster."

Balancing AI's role in education

Experts believe the option lies in AI literacy; teaching students and lecturers how to use AI as a knowing aid instead of a shortcut.

- Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, highlighted the combination of AI into Nigeria's education system, worrying the value of a well balanced method that maintains human involvement while harnessing AI to improve finding out results.
"As we browse the quickly evolving landscape of Expert system (AI), it is vital that we prioritise human firm in education. We should make sure that AI boosts, instead of changes, teachers' important role in forming young minds," he said

Concerns over AI in Learning

Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity transformation professional, dealt with growing issues concerning making use of synthetic intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their possible threats to the instructional system.

- She acknowledged the advantages of AI, however, emphasized the need for care in its use.
- Akintade highlighted the increasing hesitance amongst teachers and schools towards incorporating AI tools in learning environments. She identified 2 main reasons AI tools are dissuaded in educational settings: security threats and plagiarism. She discussed that AI tools like ChatGPT are trained to react 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 stated, describing that AI does not accommodate particular teaching techniques.

Plagiarism is another issue, raovatonline.org as AI pulls from existing data, often without proper attribution

"A lot of individuals require to understand, like I said, this is information that has actually been trained on. It is not simply 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 documentation," she cautioned.

- Additionally, Akintade highlighted an early issue in AI development referred to as "hallucination," where AI tools would generate info that was not accurate.
"Hallucination meant that it was bringing out details from the air. If ChatGPT could not get that details from you, it was going to make one up," she discussed.

She suggested "grounding" AI by supplying it with particular info to prevent such errors.

Navigating AI in Education

Akintade argued that banning AI tools outright is not the solution, particularly when AI provides a chance to leapfrog standard instructional methods.

- She believes that regularly strengthening crucial details helps people keep in mind and avoid making mistakes when faced with obstacles.
"Immersion brings conversion. When you tell individuals the exact same thing over and over once again, when they are about to make the errors, then they'll remember."

She also empasized the requirement for clear policies and bytes-the-dust.com treatments within schools, noting that numerous schools need to deal with individuals and process aspects of this usage.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu has turned to in-class assignments and tests to counter AI-driven scholastic dishonesty.
"Now, I generally utilize projects to make sure students offer original work." However, he acknowledged that managing big classes makes this technique challenging.

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

He stressed the requirement for universities to train lecturers on crafting examination questions that AI can not easily solve while acknowledging that some lecturers battle to counter AI misuse due to a lack of technological awareness. "Some speakers are analogue," he said.

- Nigeria released 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, encouraging organizations to examine algorithms, information, and outputs of generative AI tools to guarantee they fulfill ethical requirements, safeguard user data, and filter inappropriate material.
- It stresses the requirement to examine the long-lasting effect of AI on crucial skills like thinking and creativity while developing policies that align with ethical structures. Additionally, UNESCO recommends implementing age constraints for GenAI use to safeguard more youthful students and secure vulnerable groups.
- For federal governments, it recommended adopting a collaborated national method to managing GenAI, including establishing oversight bodies and bbarlock.com aligning regulations with existing information defense and privacy laws. It highlights assessing AI threats, implementing stricter guidelines for high-risk applications, and guaranteeing nationwide information ownership.