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

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing education while making finding out more accessible however also triggering disputes on its impact.

While students hail AI tools like ChatGPT for improving their learning experience, lecturers are raising issues about the growing reliance on AI, pyra-handheld.com which they argue fosters laziness and undermines academic stability, especially with many students not able to protect their tasks or offered works.

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

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"I offered a task to my MBA trainees, and out of over 100 students, about 40% sent the exact 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 pattern prevails among both undergraduate and postgraduate students however is specifically concerning in part-time and range knowing programs.

"AI is a major difficulty when it pertains to projects. Many students no longer believe critically-they simply go on the internet, generate responses, and submit," he included.

Surprisingly, some lecturers are likewise implicated 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 critical questions about the function of AI in academic integrity and trainee advancement.

According to a UNESCO report, while ChatGPT reached 100 million monthly active users in January 2023, only one country had launched regulations on generative AI since July 2023.

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

Decline of academic rigor

University speakers are significantly concerned about students sending AI-generated assignments without genuinely understanding the content.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, expressed his to Nairametrics about students progressively counting on ChatGPT, only to have a hard time with answering basic questions when checked.

"Many trainees copy from ChatGPT and send sleek tasks, but when asked basic concerns, they go blank. It's disappointing because education has to do with learning, not simply passing courses," he said.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu pointed out that the increasing number of first-rate graduates can not be entirely credited to AI however confessed that even high-performing trainees utilize these tools.
"A superior student is a superior trainee, AI or not, but that doesn't mean they don't cheat. The advantages of AI might be peripheral, but it is making students reliant and less analytical," he said.

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

Students' viewpoints on usage

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

- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration student at Unilag, shared how AI has significantly helped her knowing by breaking down complex terms and providing summaries of prolonged texts.
"AI helped me understand things more quickly, especially when handling complex topics," she described.

However, she recalled a circumstances when she used AI to send her job, just for her speaker to instantly recognize that it was generated by ChatGPT and reject it. Eniola noted that it was a good-bad effect.

- Bryan Okwuba, who just recently finished with a first-rate degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, firmly thinks that his academic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He attributes his impressive grades to actively interesting by asking questions and focusing on locations that speakers emphasize in class, as they are often reflected in test concerns.
"It's all about existing, focusing, and using the wealth of understanding shared by my colleagues," he said,

- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing trainee at UNIZIK, confesses to occasionally copying straight from ChatGPT when dealing with numerous due dates.
"To be honest, there are times I copy straight from ChatGPT when I have numerous due dates, and I know I'm guilty of that, many times the speakers do not get to check out them, but AI has actually also assisted me find out much faster."

Balancing AI's role in education

Experts believe the solution depends on AI literacy