Lecturers worry as Nigerian students turn to AI for tests’ answers

Lecturers worry as Nigerian students turn to AI for tests’ answers

As many have applauded the introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in revolutionizing education and making learning more accessible, there are also growing concerns about its impact.

While students hail AI tools like ChatGPT for enhancing their learning experience, lecturers are getting worried about the growing dependence on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and undermines academic integrity, especially with many students unable to defend their assignments or given tasks.

Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a lecturer at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, expressed frustration over the growing reliance on AI-generated responses among students recounting a recent experience he had.

“I gave an assignment to my MBA students, and out of over 100 students, about 40% submitted the exact same answers. These students did not even know each other, but they all used the same AI tool to generate their responses,” he said.

He noted that this trend is prevalent among both undergraduate and postgraduate students but is especially concerning in part-time and distance learning programs.

“AI is a serious challenge when it comes to assignments. Many students no longer think critically—they just go online, generate 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 rather than intellectual rigor.

This debate raises critical questions about the role of AI in academic integrity and student development.

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

As of December 2024, ChatGPT had over 300 million people using the AI chatbot each week and 1 billion messages sent every day around the world.

University lecturers are increasingly concerned about students submitting AI-generated assignments without truly understanding the content.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, expressed his concerns to Nairametrics about students increasingly relying on ChatGPT, only to struggle with answering basic questions when tested.

“Many students copy from ChatGPT and submit polished assignments, but when asked basic questions, they go blank. It’s disappointing because education is about learning, not just passing courses,” he said.

Prof. Nwaogwugwu noted the increasing number of first-class graduates could not be entirely attributed to AI but admitted that even high-performing students use these tools.

“A first-class student is a first-class student, AI or not, but that doesn’t mean they don’t cheat. The benefits of AI may be peripheral, but it is making students dependent and less analytical,” he said.

Another lecturer, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a different concern that some lecturers themselves are guilty of the same practice.

“It’s not just students using AI lazily. Some lecturers, out of their own laziness, generate lesson notes, course outlines, marking schemes, and even exam questions with AI without reviewing them. Students in turn use AI to generate answers. It’s a cycle of laziness and it is killing real learning,” he lamented.

Students, on the other hand, say AI has improved their learning experience by making academic materials more understandable and accessible.

Concerns over AI in Learning

Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity transformation expert, addressed growing concerns regarding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their potential risks to the educational system.

• She acknowledged the benefits of AI, however, emphasized the need for caution in its usage.
• Akintade highlighted the increasing hesitance among educators and schools toward incorporating AI tools in learning environments. She identified two primary reasons why AI tools are discouraged in educational settings: security risks and plagiarism. She explained that AI tools like ChatGPT are trained to respond based on user interactions, which may not align with the expectations of educators.

“It is not looking at it as a tutor,” Akintade said, explaining that AI doesn’t cater to specific teaching methods.

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Plagiarism is another issue, as AI pulls from existing data, often without proper attribution

“A lot of people need to understand, like I said, this is data that has been trained on. It is not just bringing things out from the sky. It’s bringing information that some other people are fed into it, which in essence means that is another person’s paperwork,” she said.

Lecturers worry as Nigerian students turn to AI for tests’ answers