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1 Nigerian Students Turn to aI For Tests Answers, Lecturers Raise Alarm

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing education while making finding out more available however also triggering debates on its effect.

While students hail AI tools like ChatGPT for boosting their learning experience, speakers are raising concerns about the growing dependence on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and weakens academic integrity, particularly with numerous students unable to safeguard their assignments or given works.

Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a speaker at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, revealed aggravation over the growing reliance on AI-generated responses amongst trainees recounting a current experience he had.

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"I gave a project to my MBA trainees, and out of over 100 students, about 40% sent the specific very same responses. These students did not even know each other, but they all used the same AI tool to create their responses," he said.

He noted that this trend prevails amongst both and postgraduate students but is especially worrying in part-time and distance learning programs.

"AI is a severe obstacle when it comes to projects. Many trainees no longer believe critically-they just go on the internet, produce answers, 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 convenience instead of intellectual rigor.

This argument raises vital concerns about the role 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 actually launched policies on generative AI since July 2023.

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

Decline of scholastic rigor

University speakers are progressively worried about trainees submitting AI -generated assignments without truly comprehending the content.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a speaker at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, revealed his concerns to Nairametrics about students increasingly counting on ChatGPT, only to battle with answering fundamental questions when evaluated.

"Many students copy from ChatGPT and submit refined assignments, however when asked fundamental concerns, they go blank. It's frustrating because education has to do with finding out, not just passing courses," he said.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu mentioned that the increasing variety of top-notch graduates can not be entirely credited to AI however admitted that even high-performing students utilize these tools.
"A first-class trainee is a first-rate student, AI or not, but that doesn't suggest they do not cheat. The advantages of AI may be peripheral, but it is making trainees reliant and less analytical," he said.

- Another speaker, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a different issue that some speakers themselves are guilty of the same practice.
"It's not just trainees utilizing AI slackly. Some speakers, out of their own laziness, produce lesson notes, course details, marking schemes, and even test concerns with AI without evaluating them. Students in turn utilize AI to produce answers. It's a cycle of laziness and it is killing genuine knowing," he lamented.

Students' perspectives on use

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

- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration student at Unilag, shared how AI has actually substantially helped her knowing by breaking down complex terms and providing summaries of lengthy texts.
"AI assisted me understand things more easily, particularly when handling complex subjects," she described.

However, she recalled an instance when she utilized AI to submit her task, just for her lecturer to instantly recognize that it was generated by ChatGPT and decline it. Eniola kept in mind that it was a good-bad result.

- Bryan Okwuba, who just recently finished with a first-class degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, visualchemy.gallery firmly thinks that his scholastic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He attributes his impressive grades to actively interesting by asking questions and concentrating on locations that lecturers stress in class, as they are typically shown in test concerns.
"It's all about existing, focusing, and tapping into the wealth of understanding shared by my coworkers," he said,

- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing student at UNIZIK, admits to occasionally copying directly from ChatGPT when dealing with multiple due dates.
"To be honest, there are times I copy straight from ChatGPT when I have multiple due dates, and I understand I'm guilty of that, the majority of times the speakers don't get to check out through them, however AI has actually also helped me find out quicker."

Balancing AI's function in education

Experts believe the option lies in AI literacy