Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing education while making finding out more available however likewise sparking arguments on its effect.

While trainees 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 academic integrity, especially with lots of trainees unable to defend their projects or given works.

Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a lecturer at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, expressed frustration over the growing dependence on AI-generated actions amongst trainees recounting a recent experience he had.

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“I offered a project to my MBA trainees, and out of over 100 trainees, about 40% sent the precise very same answers. These students did not even know each other, however they all used the very same AI tool to create their actions,” he said.

He noted that this pattern is common among both undergraduate and postgraduate trainees however is especially worrying in part-time and distance knowing programs.

“AI is a severe difficulty when it comes to tasks. Many students no longer think critically-they simply browse the web, generate answers, and send,” he included.

Surprisingly, some speakers are also accused of over-relying on AI, setting a cycle where both educators and trainees 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 regular monthly active users in January 2023, only one nation had launched policies on generative AI as of July 2023.

Since December 2024, ChatGPT had over 300 million people utilizing the AI chatbot every week and 1 billion messages sent every day around the globe.

Decline of academic rigor

University speakers are progressively worried about students sending AI-generated tasks without truly comprehending the material.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a speaker at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, expressed his concerns to Nairametrics about trainees significantly relying on ChatGPT, just to deal with responding to basic concerns when evaluated.

“Many trainees copy from ChatGPT and submit sleek tasks, but when asked standard questions, they go blank. It’s frustrating because education is about finding out, not simply passing courses,” he stated.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu pointed out that the increasing number of top-notch graduates can not be completely credited to AI however admitted that even high-performing students use these tools.
“A top-notch trainee is a superior trainee, AI or not, however that doesn’t indicate they do not cheat. The advantages of AI may be peripheral, however it is making trainees dependent and less analytical,” he stated.

- Another speaker, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a different issue that some speakers themselves are guilty of the very same practice.
“It’s not simply trainees using AI slackly. Some speakers, 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 create answers. It’s a cycle of laziness and it is eliminating real learning,” he lamented.

Students’ perspectives on use

Students, on the other hand, say AI has enhanced their learning experience by making scholastic materials more understandable and available.

- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration trainee at Unilag, shared how AI has actually considerably assisted her learning by breaking down complex terms and wiki.philo.at offering summaries of lengthy texts.
“AI helped me comprehend things more quickly, particularly when handling complicated subjects,” she described.

However, she remembered a circumstances when she used AI to send her project, just for her lecturer to immediately recognize that it was produced by ChatGPT and decline it. Eniola noted that it was a good-bad result.

- Bryan Okwuba, who just recently finished with a first-rate degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, securely believes that his academic success wasn’t due to any AI tool. He associates his outstanding grades to actively appealing by asking concerns and focusing on areas that lecturers emphasize in class, as they are frequently shown in test questions.
“It’s everything about being present, paying attention, and using the wealth of knowledge shared by my coworkers,” he said,

- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing student at UNIZIK, admits to periodically copying straight from ChatGPT when dealing with multiple due dates.
“To be sincere, there are times I copy directly from ChatGPT when I have several due dates, and I know I’m guilty of that, a lot of times the speakers do not get to review them, however AI has actually also helped me find out faster.”

Balancing AI’s function in education

Experts think the service lies in AI literacy