Expert System (AI) is revolutionizing education while making discovering more accessible but also triggering debates on its effect.

While students hail AI tools like ChatGPT for improving their learning experience, lecturers are raising issues about the growing reliance on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and undermines scholastic integrity, particularly with lots of trainees unable to defend their assignments or provided works.

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

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"I provided a project to my MBA trainees, and out of over 100 trainees, about 40% sent the specific very same answers. These trainees did not even know each other, however they all used the same AI tool to produce their reactions," he said.

He kept in mind that this trend is widespread among both undergraduate and postgraduate trainees but is especially concerning in part-time and distance knowing programs.

"AI is a serious difficulty when it comes to tasks. Many trainees no longer believe critically-they just go on the internet, create responses, and send," he included.

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

This debate raises crucial questions about the role of AI in scholastic stability and trainee advancement.

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

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

Decline of academic rigor

University lecturers are progressively worried about students submitting AI-generated projects without really comprehending the content.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, expressed his concerns to Nairametrics about trainees increasingly depending on ChatGPT, just to deal with addressing standard concerns when evaluated.

"Many trainees copy from ChatGPT and submit refined tasks, but when asked basic questions, they go blank. It's frustrating because education is about finding out, not simply passing courses," he said.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu explained that the increasing variety of first-rate graduates can not be completely attributed to AI however admitted that even high-performing trainees utilize these tools.
"A first-rate student is a first-rate trainee, AI or not, but that doesn't mean they don't cheat. The benefits of AI may be peripheral, however it is making students dependent and less analytical," he stated.

- Another lecturer, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a various concern that some lecturers themselves are guilty of the exact same practice.
"It's not just students utilizing AI lazily. Some lecturers, out of their own laziness, generate lesson notes, course lays out, marking plans, and even exam questions with AI without examining them. Students in turn utilize AI to produce answers. It's a cycle of laziness and it is eliminating real knowing," he lamented.

Students' perspectives on usage

Students, on the other hand, say AI has actually enhanced their learning experience by making academic materials more understandable 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 supplying summaries of lengthy texts.
"AI helped me comprehend things more easily, especially when dealing with complicated subjects," she described.

However, she recalled a circumstances when she used AI to send her job, only for her lecturer to immediately recognize that it was produced by ChatGPT and decline it. Eniola kept in mind that it was a good-bad result.

- Bryan Okwuba, who recently graduated with a superior degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, strongly believes that his scholastic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He associates his exceptional grades to actively interesting by asking questions and focusing on areas that speakers highlight in class, as they are frequently shown in examination questions.
"It's everything about being present, taking note, and tapping into the wealth of knowledge shared by my associates," he stated,

- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing trainee at UNIZIK, confesses to periodically copying directly from ChatGPT when dealing with numerous deadlines.
"To be honest, 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 don't get to check out them, however AI has actually also assisted me discover quicker."

Balancing AI's role in education

Experts think the solution lies in AI literacy; teaching trainees and lecturers how to use AI as a knowing help instead of a shortcut.

- Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, highlighted the combination of AI into Nigeria's education system, worrying the significance of a well balanced method that maintains human involvement while utilizing AI to enhance learning outcomes.
"As we browse the rapidly evolving landscape of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is essential that we prioritise human agency in education. We need to guarantee that AI improves, rather than changes, educators' essential function in forming young minds," he said

Concerns over AI in Learning

Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity improvement professional, valetinowiki.racing dealt with growing concerns relating to making use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their potential dangers to the academic system.

- She acknowledged the benefits of AI, nevertheless, highlighted the requirement for care in its usage.
- Akintade highlighted the increasing resistance among educators and schools towards integrating AI tools in learning environments. She recognized two primary factors why AI tools are discouraged in educational settings: security dangers and plagiarism. She discussed that AI tools like ChatGPT are trained to respond based on user interactions, which may not align with the expectations of educators.
"It is not looking at it as a tutor," Akintade stated, describing that AI doesn't cater to particular teaching methods.

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

"A lot of individuals require to understand, like I stated, this is data that has 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 documents," she warned.

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

She suggested "grounding" AI by providing it with specific details to avoid such errors.

Navigating AI in Education

Akintade argued that prohibiting AI tools outright is not the solution, especially when AI provides a chance to leapfrog conventional educational techniques.

- She thinks that regularly strengthening essential details helps individuals remember and avoid making mistakes when confronted with difficulties.
"Immersion brings conversion. When you tell individuals the same thing over and over again, when they will make the errors, then they'll remember."

She likewise empasized the requirement for clear policies and treatments within schools, noting that many schools must address the individuals and process aspects of this use.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu has resorted to in-class tasks and tests to counter AI-driven academic dishonesty.
"Now, I primarily use projects to make sure students offer original work." However, he acknowledged that managing big classes makes this technique tough.

"If you set complicated concerns, students won't have the ability to use AI to get direct answers," he explained.

He stressed the requirement for universities to train lecturers on crafting test concerns that AI can not quickly fix while acknowledging that some speakers battle 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, focusing on ethical AI advancement with fairness, transparency, responsibility, and personal privacy at its core.
- UNESCO in a report calls for the policy of AI in education, recommending organizations to investigate algorithms, information, and outputs of AI tools to ensure they fulfill ethical standards, secure user data, and filter unsuitable content.
- It stresses the requirement to assess the long-lasting effect of AI on important abilities like believing and imagination while producing policies that line up with ethical structures. Additionally, UNESCO advises implementing age restrictions for GenAI use to safeguard more youthful trainees and safeguard vulnerable groups.
- For governments, it advised embracing a coordinated nationwide approach to managing GenAI, consisting of establishing oversight bodies and aligning policies with existing data protection and personal privacy laws. It emphasizes evaluating AI risks, implementing more stringent guidelines for high-risk applications, and guaranteeing nationwide data ownership.