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

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming education while making finding out more available but also stimulating disputes on its effect.

While trainees hail AI tools like ChatGPT for enhancing their knowing experience, speakers are raising concerns about the growing reliance on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and weakens academic integrity, particularly with many students not able to defend their tasks or given works.

Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a speaker at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, revealed frustration over the growing dependence on AI -generated responses among students recounting a current experience he had.

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"I provided an assignment to my MBA students, and out of over 100 trainees, about 40% sent the specific same answers. These students did not even understand each other, however they all utilized the very same AI tool to create their responses," he said.

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

"AI is a major obstacle when it comes to assignments. Many trainees no longer think critically-they just go on the internet, create responses, and submit," he included.

Surprisingly, some speakers are also accused of over-relying on AI, setting a cycle where both educators and students turn to AI for benefit instead of intellectual rigor.

This argument raises important concerns about the role of AI in scholastic integrity and student advancement.

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

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

Decline of academic rigor

University lecturers are significantly concerned about trainees sending AI-generated projects without truly understanding the material.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a speaker at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, revealed his concerns to Nairametrics about students increasingly relying on ChatGPT, just to have a hard time with answering fundamental concerns when tested.

"Many trainees copy from ChatGPT and send sleek projects, but when asked fundamental concerns, they go blank. It's disappointing since education is about learning, not simply passing courses," he stated.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu mentioned that the increasing number of first-rate graduates can not be totally associated to AI however admitted that even high-performing students use these tools.
"A first-rate student is a first-class student, AI or not, however that doesn't mean they do not cheat. The benefits of AI may be peripheral, but it is making students dependent and less analytical," he said.

- Another speaker, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a various issue that some speakers themselves are guilty of the same practice.
"It's not simply trainees using AI slackly. Some speakers, out of their own laziness, generate lesson notes, course outlines, marking plans, and even examination questions with AI without evaluating them. Students in turn use AI to create responses. It's a cycle of laziness and it is eliminating real knowing," he regreted.

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 wiki.dulovic.tech and accessible.

- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration trainee at Unilag, shared how AI has substantially assisted her knowing by breaking down complex terms and offering summaries of lengthy texts.
"AI assisted me comprehend things more easily, specifically when handling complicated subjects," she discussed.

However, she recalled an instance when she used AI to send her job, only for her speaker to immediately acknowledge that it was generated by ChatGPT and decline it. Eniola kept in mind that it was a good-bad result.

- Bryan Okwuba, who recently graduated with a first-class degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, firmly thinks that his scholastic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He associates his impressive grades to actively engaging by asking concerns and concentrating on locations that lecturers highlight in class, as they are often shown in exam concerns.
"It's all about being present, paying attention, and using the wealth of understanding shared by my colleagues," he stated,

- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing student at UNIZIK, confesses to sometimes copying directly from ChatGPT when dealing with several deadlines.
"To be sincere, there are times I copy directly from ChatGPT when I have several deadlines, and I know I'm guilty of that, the majority of times the lecturers do not get to check out through them, but AI has actually likewise assisted me discover quicker."

Balancing AI's role in education

Experts think the service depends on AI literacy