Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing education while making discovering more accessible however likewise triggering disputes on its effect.

While students 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 weakens academic integrity, specifically with many trainees unable to protect their projects or given works.

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

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“I provided an assignment to my MBA students, and out of over 100 students, about 40% sent the exact very same responses. These students did not even know each other, but they all utilized the same AI tool to produce their reactions,” he said.

He noted that this trend is widespread among both undergraduate and postgraduate students but is specifically concerning in part-time and distance learning programs.

“AI is a severe challenge when it comes to projects. Many trainees no longer think critically-they just browse the web, generate responses, and submit,” he included.

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

This debate raises vital questions about the function of AI in scholastic integrity and trainee advancement.

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

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

Decline of academic rigor

University speakers are significantly worried about students sending AI-generated assignments without genuinely understanding the content.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a speaker at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, expressed his issues to Nairametrics about trainees increasingly depending on ChatGPT, only to fight with responding to standard questions when checked.

“Many students copy from ChatGPT and submit polished tasks, but when asked basic concerns, they go blank. It’s disappointing since education has to do with discovering, not simply passing courses,” he stated.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu mentioned that the increasing variety of first-class graduates can not be totally attributed to AI but confessed that even high-performing students utilize these tools.
“A top-notch student is a top-notch student, AI or not, however that doesn’t indicate they don’t cheat. The benefits of AI might be peripheral, however it is making students reliant and less analytical,” he stated.

- Another speaker, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a different concern that some themselves are guilty of the very same practice.
“It’s not simply trainees utilizing AI slackly. Some speakers, out of their own laziness, generate lesson notes, course describes, marking schemes, and even examination concerns with AI without evaluating them. Students in turn utilize AI to produce answers. It’s a cycle of laziness and it is eliminating real learning,” he regreted.

Students’ perspectives on usage

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

- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration student at Unilag, shared how AI has actually considerably aided her learning by breaking down complex terms and offering summaries of lengthy texts.
“AI assisted me understand things more easily, particularly when dealing with intricate subjects,” she explained.

However, she remembered an instance when she utilized AI to submit her project, just for her speaker to right away recognize that it was generated by ChatGPT and decline it. Eniola noted that it was a good-bad result.

- Bryan Okwuba, who 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 impressive grades to actively engaging by asking concerns and concentrating on areas that speakers stress in class, as they are often shown in test concerns.
“It’s all about being present, taking note, and tapping into the wealth of knowledge shared by my coworkers,” he stated,

- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing trainee at UNIZIK, admits to occasionally copying straight from ChatGPT when facing several deadlines.
“To be truthful, there are times I copy straight from ChatGPT when I have numerous deadlines, and I know I’m guilty of that, a lot of times the speakers do not get to review them, but AI has also assisted me find out quicker.”

Balancing AI’s role in education

Experts believe the option lies in AI literacy