Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reinventing education while making finding out more accessible but likewise triggering debates on its effect.

While students hail AI tools like ChatGPT for enhancing their learning experience, lecturers are raising issues about the growing dependence on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and undermines scholastic stability, specifically with many students not able to defend their projects or offered works.

Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a speaker at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, oke.zone expressed disappointment over the growing dependence on AI-generated responses among trainees recounting a current experience he had.

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“I gave a project to my MBA students, and out of over 100 trainees, about 40% submitted the precise same responses. These students did not even know each other, but they all utilized the same AI tool to generate their reactions,” he stated.

He kept in mind that this pattern prevails among both undergraduate and postgraduate students however is specifically concerning in part-time and distance learning programs.

“AI is a severe challenge when it concerns tasks. Many trainees no longer think critically-they just go online, generate answers, and submit,” he included.

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

This debate raises vital concerns about the function of AI in academic stability and trainee advancement.

According to a UNESCO report, while ChatGPT reached 100 million regular monthly active users in January 2023, just one nation had actually released guidelines on generative AI as of July 2023.

As of December 2024, ChatGPT had over 300 million individuals using the AI chatbot weekly and 1 billion messages sent every day all over the world.

Decline of academic rigor

University speakers are increasingly worried about trainees sending AI-generated tasks without really understanding the content.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, revealed his concerns to Nairametrics about students significantly depending on ChatGPT, just to struggle with responding to basic concerns when evaluated.

“Many trainees copy from ChatGPT and submit refined projects, however when asked fundamental concerns, they go blank. It’s frustrating because education has to do with learning, not just passing courses,” he said.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu mentioned that the increasing number of top-notch graduates can not be entirely 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 suggest they don’t cheat. The benefits of AI might be peripheral, however it is making trainees dependent and less analytical,” he stated.

- Another lecturer, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a various issue that some speakers themselves are guilty of the very same practice.
“It’s not just students utilizing AI lazily. Some lecturers, out of their own laziness, produce lesson notes, course outlines, marking plans, and even exam questions with AI without reviewing them. Students in turn use AI to produce responses. It’s a cycle of laziness and it is eliminating genuine learning,” he lamented.

Students’ viewpoints on use

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

- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration trainee at Unilag, shared how AI has actually substantially assisted her learning by breaking down complex terms and offering summaries of prolonged texts.
“AI helped me comprehend things more easily, especially when dealing with complicated subjects,” she discussed.

However, she recalled a circumstances when she used AI to send her job, only for her speaker to immediately recognize that it was produced by ChatGPT and decline it. Eniola noted that it was a good-bad impact.

- Bryan Okwuba, genbecle.com who recently finished with a first-class degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, strongly believes that his scholastic success wasn’t due to any AI tool. He associates his exceptional grades to actively interesting by asking questions and concentrating on locations that speakers highlight in class, genbecle.com as they are often reflected in test concerns.
“It’s all about being present, paying attention, and using the wealth of knowledge shared by my colleagues,” he stated,

- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing trainee at UNIZIK, championsleage.review admits to sometimes copying straight from ChatGPT when dealing with numerous due dates.
“To be honest, there are times I copy straight from ChatGPT when I have multiple deadlines, and I know I’m guilty of that, a lot of times the speakers do not get to go through them, however AI has actually also assisted me learn faster.”

Balancing AI’s function in education

Experts believe the option depends on AI literacy