Expert System (AI) is transforming education while making learning more accessible but also triggering arguments on its impact.

While trainees hail AI tools like ChatGPT for enhancing their learning experience, lecturers are raising concerns about the growing dependence on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and undermines scholastic stability, particularly with lots of students unable to protect their tasks or given works.

Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a lecturer at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, revealed disappointment over the growing reliance on AI-generated responses amongst 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 precise very same responses. These trainees did not even know each other, but they all utilized the very same AI tool to produce their responses," he said.

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

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

Surprisingly, some speakers are likewise implicated of over-relying on AI, setting a cycle where both educators and students turn to AI for rather than intellectual rigor.

This argument raises crucial questions about the function of AI in academic stability and trainee development.

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

As of December 2024, ChatGPT had over 300 million individuals utilizing the AI chatbot every week and 1 billion messages sent out every day around the world.

Decline of scholastic rigor

University speakers are increasingly concerned about students submitting AI-generated assignments without genuinely understanding the material.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a speaker at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, expressed his issues to Nairametrics about students increasingly counting on ChatGPT, just to fight with responding to standard concerns when tested.

"Many trainees copy from ChatGPT and submit sleek tasks, but when asked fundamental questions, they go blank. It's frustrating since education is about learning, not just passing courses," he stated.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu mentioned that the increasing number of first-class graduates can not be entirely credited to AI however confessed that even high-performing students use these tools.
"A superior student is a first-class student, AI or not, but that does not suggest they do not cheat. The advantages of AI may be peripheral, but it is making trainees dependent and less analytical," he stated.

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

Students' point of views on usage

Students, on the other hand, say AI has improved their knowing experience by making scholastic materials more easy to understand and available.

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

However, she remembered an instance when she utilized AI to send her job, just for her speaker to immediately recognize that it was produced by ChatGPT and decline it. Eniola kept in mind that it was a good-bad impact.

- Bryan Okwuba, who just recently finished with a top-notch degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, securely thinks that his scholastic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He attributes his outstanding grades to actively engaging by asking questions and focusing on locations that lecturers stress in class, as they are frequently shown in test questions.
"It's all about being present, paying attention, and tapping into the wealth of knowledge shared by my colleagues," he stated,

- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing student at UNIZIK, confesses to sometimes copying straight from ChatGPT when facing numerous due dates.
"To be truthful, there are times I copy straight from ChatGPT when I have numerous due dates, and I understand I'm guilty of that, the majority of times the lecturers do not get to review them, however AI has actually also helped me learn much faster."

Balancing AI's function in education

Experts think the service lies in AI literacy; teaching students and lecturers how to utilize AI as a learning help instead of a faster way.

- Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, highlighted the integration of AI into Nigeria's education system, worrying the importance of a well balanced technique that preserves human involvement while harnessing AI to enhance learning outcomes.
"As we navigate the rapidly progressing landscape of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is important that we prioritise human firm in education. We need to make sure that AI boosts, instead of replaces, educators' vital role in forming young minds," he stated

Concerns over AI in Learning

Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity transformation professional, addressed growing concerns relating to using synthetic intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their possible threats to the instructional system.

- She acknowledged the advantages of AI, nevertheless, stressed the requirement for care in its use.
- Akintade highlighted the increasing hesitance among educators and schools towards including AI tools in finding out environments. She determined two primary factors why AI tools are discouraged in instructional settings: security threats and plagiarism. She discussed that AI tools like ChatGPT are trained to react based upon 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 deal with specific mentor approaches.

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

"A great deal of people require to understand, like I stated, this is data that has actually been trained on. It is not simply bringing things out from the sky. It's bringing info that some other people are fed into it, which in essence implies that is another person's documents," she warned.

- Additionally, Akintade highlighted an early problem in AI development understood as "hallucination," where AI tools would create details that was not factual.
"Hallucination implied that it was bringing out information from the air. If ChatGPT could not get that details from you, it was going to make one up," she described.

She advised "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 option, especially when AI provides an opportunity to leapfrog conventional academic approaches.

- She thinks that regularly strengthening essential information helps individuals keep in mind and avoid making errors when faced with challenges.
"Immersion brings conversion. When you inform people the same thing over and over once again, when they are about to make the errors, then they'll remember."

She likewise empasized the need for clear policies and procedures within schools, noting that numerous schools ought to resolve individuals and procedure elements of this usage.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu has resorted to in-class assignments and tests to counter AI-driven scholastic dishonesty.
"Now, I primarily use projects to ensure students offer initial work." However, king-wifi.win he acknowledged that handling large classes makes this technique tough.

"If you set complicated questions, trainees will not be able to use AI to get direct responses," he described.

He highlighted the requirement for universities to train speakers on crafting test concerns that AI can not quickly solve while acknowledging that some speakers battle to counter AI abuse due to a lack 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 requires the guideline of AI in education, recommending organizations to audit algorithms, information, and outputs of generative AI tools to guarantee they meet ethical standards, safeguard user information, and filter inappropriate content.
- It stresses the requirement to evaluate the long-term effect of AI on crucial skills like believing and imagination while developing policies that line up with ethical structures. Additionally, UNESCO suggests carrying out age restrictions for GenAI use to protect younger trainees and protect susceptible groups.
- For governments, it advised embracing a coordinated national approach to regulating GenAI, consisting of developing oversight bodies and lining up guidelines with existing data security and privacy laws. It highlights assessing AI threats, enforcing more stringent guidelines for utahsyardsale.com high-risk applications, and making sure nationwide information ownership.