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Expert System (AI) is reinventing education while making finding out more available however likewise stimulating debates on its impact.

While trainees hail AI tools like ChatGPT for boosting their knowing experience, lecturers are raising concerns about the growing reliance on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and undermines scholastic integrity, particularly with lots of trainees unable to defend their tasks or provided 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 reactions among students recounting 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% sent the precise very same responses. These students did not even understand each other, but they all utilized the very same AI tool to produce their reactions," he said.

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

"AI is a serious challenge when it concerns projects. Many trainees no longer believe critically-they just go on the internet, produce responses, and send," he included.

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

This argument raises critical concerns about the function of AI in academic stability and student advancement.

According to a UNESCO report, while ChatGPT reached 100 million monthly active users in January 2023, only one nation had launched regulations on generative AI as of July 2023.

Since December 2024, ChatGPT had more than 300 million individuals using the AI chatbot every week and 1 billion messages sent every day worldwide.

Decline of academic rigor

University lecturers are significantly worried about trainees sending AI-generated projects without really comprehending the material.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, revealed his concerns to Nairametrics about students progressively counting on ChatGPT, only to battle with addressing basic concerns when evaluated.

"Many students copy from ChatGPT and submit polished projects, however when asked basic questions, they go blank. It's frustrating due to the fact that education has to do with finding out, not just passing courses," he stated.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu mentioned that the increasing variety of top-notch graduates can not be completely associated to AI but admitted that even high-performing trainees utilize these tools.
"A superior student is a first-rate trainee, AI or not, however that does not imply they do not cheat. The benefits of AI might be peripheral, but it is making students reliant and less analytical," he said.

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

Students' viewpoints on usage

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

- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration trainee at Unilag, shared how AI has actually considerably aided her knowing by breaking down complex terms and supplying summaries of lengthy texts.
"AI assisted me understand things more quickly, particularly when handling complicated subjects," she described.

However, she remembered a circumstances when she used AI to send her task, only for her lecturer to immediately acknowledge that it was produced by ChatGPT and reject it. Eniola noted that it was a good-bad result.

- Bryan Okwuba, who recently graduated with a superior degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, passfun.awardspace.us strongly thinks that his scholastic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He attributes his impressive grades to actively engaging by asking concerns and focusing on areas that lecturers stress in class, as they are often reflected in exam questions.
"It's everything about existing, paying attention, and tapping into the wealth of knowledge shared by my colleagues," he stated,

- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing trainee at UNIZIK, confesses to occasionally copying directly from ChatGPT when dealing with numerous due dates.
"To be honest, there are times I copy straight from ChatGPT when I have multiple deadlines, and I know 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 discover much faster."

Balancing AI's function in education

Experts believe the option lies in AI literacy; mentor trainees and speakers how to utilize AI as a knowing aid rather than a faster way.

- Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, highlighted the integration of AI into Nigeria's education system, stressing the importance of a well balanced approach that keeps human involvement while utilizing AI to enhance discovering outcomes.
"As we navigate the quickly evolving landscape of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is vital that we prioritise human firm in education. We must ensure that AI enhances, instead of changes, teachers' vital role in forming young minds," he said

Concerns over AI in Learning

Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity transformation expert, addressed growing concerns concerning the use of expert system (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their possible threats to the academic system.

- She acknowledged the benefits of AI, however, stressed the need for caution in its use.
- Akintade highlighted the increasing resistance among teachers and schools toward including AI tools in finding out environments. She recognized two main reasons that AI tools are discouraged in educational settings: security dangers and plagiarism. She discussed that AI tools like ChatGPT are trained to react 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 said, describing that AI doesn't deal with specific teaching techniques.

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

"A great deal of individuals need to understand, like I said, this is data that has actually been trained on. It is not just bringing things out from the sky. It's bringing details that some other individuals are fed into it, which in essence means that is another person's documentation," she warned.

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

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

Navigating AI in Education

Akintade argued that prohibiting AI tools outright is not the service, especially when AI presents an opportunity to leapfrog conventional academic approaches.

- She believes that regularly enhancing essential information assists individuals remember and users.atw.hu avoid making mistakes when confronted with challenges.
"Immersion brings conversion. When you inform individuals the exact same thing over and over again, when they will make the mistakes, then they'll keep in mind."

She likewise empasized the requirement for clear policies and treatments within schools, keeping in mind that numerous schools ought to resolve the individuals and process aspects of this usage.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu has actually turned to in-class projects and tests to counter AI-driven scholastic dishonesty.
"Now, I mainly use tasks to ensure trainees provide initial work." However, he acknowledged that managing large classes makes this technique hard.

"If you set intricate questions, students won't have the ability to utilize AI to get direct answers," he discussed.

He stressed the need for universities to train speakers on crafting exam questions that AI can not easily resolve while acknowledging that some speakers struggle to counter AI abuse due to an absence of technological awareness. "Some lecturers are analogue," he said.

- Nigeria launched a draft National AI Strategy in August 2024, concentrating on ethical AI advancement with fairness, transparency, responsibility, and personal privacy at its core.
- UNESCO in a report calls for the regulation of AI in education, advising institutions to investigate algorithms, information, and outputs of generative AI tools to guarantee they meet ethical requirements, secure user information, and filter improper material.
- It worries the need to evaluate the long-term effect of AI on crucial abilities like thinking and imagination while developing policies that line up with ethical structures. Additionally, UNESCO recommends implementing age limitations for GenAI usage to safeguard younger trainees and protect vulnerable groups.
- For governments, it encouraged adopting a collaborated national method to controling GenAI, including establishing oversight bodies and lining up regulations with existing data security and privacy laws. It highlights examining AI risks, implementing more stringent rules for high-risk applications, and ensuring national information ownership.