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

Expert System (AI) is transforming education while making finding out more available but also stimulating debates on its effect.

While students hail AI tools like ChatGPT for enhancing their learning experience, speakers are raising concerns about the growing reliance on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and weakens academic stability, especially with many students unable to protect their projects 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 reactions among 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% submitted the precise very same responses. These students did not even understand each other, but they all used the exact same AI tool to create their reactions," he stated.

He noted that this trend prevails among both undergraduate and postgraduate students however is specifically concerning in part-time and distance knowing programs.

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

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

This debate raises vital questions about the role of AI in academic stability and student development.

According to a UNESCO report, dokuwiki.stream 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 more than 300 million individuals utilizing the AI chatbot every week and 1 billion messages sent every day around the globe.

Decline of scholastic rigor

University speakers are significantly concerned about students submitting AI-generated tasks without really understanding the material.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, expressed his issues to Nairametrics about students increasingly counting on ChatGPT, just to battle with answering fundamental concerns when checked.

"Many trainees copy from ChatGPT and submit polished tasks, however when asked basic questions, they go blank. It's frustrating due to the fact that education is about discovering, not simply passing courses," he said.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu pointed out that the increasing variety of first-class graduates can not be totally credited to AI but confessed that even high-performing students use these tools.
"A first-class student is a superior student, AI or not, but that doesn't mean they do not cheat. The advantages of AI may be peripheral, but it is making trainees reliant and less analytical," he stated.

- Another lecturer, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a various concern that some lecturers themselves are guilty of the very same practice.
"It's not just students using AI slackly. Some speakers, out of their own laziness, generate lesson notes, course outlines, marking schemes, and even test 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' perspectives on usage

Students, on the other hand, state AI has improved their knowing experience by making academic products more easy to understand and accessible.

- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration trainee at Unilag, shared how AI has considerably assisted her learning by breaking down complex terms and supplying summaries of prolonged texts.
"AI helped me comprehend things more quickly, especially when dealing with complex topics," she described.

However, she remembered an instance when she utilized AI to submit her project, only for her speaker to instantly acknowledge that it was created by ChatGPT and decline it. Eniola noted 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, strongly believes that his academic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He attributes his outstanding grades to actively interesting by asking concerns and focusing on areas that speakers highlight in class, as they are typically shown in test questions.
"It's everything about existing, paying attention, and using the wealth of understanding shared by my associates," he said,

- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing trainee at UNIZIK, confesses to periodically copying straight from ChatGPT when dealing with multiple due dates.
"To be sincere, there are times I copy straight from ChatGPT when I have several due dates, and I understand I'm guilty of that, many times the speakers do not get to check out them, but AI has likewise helped me discover quicker."

Balancing AI's role in education

Experts believe the service depends on AI literacy