WriterX:
AI IS TAKING OVER OUR UNIVERSITIES: WHO IS PROTECTING THE STUDENT'S BRAIN?
1. Are we educating students or training them to operate artificial intelligence?
Let us be honest. Something interesting is happening in our universities, and it is not entirely good news.
A student can go to classes at 8 a.m., receive an assignment, open ChatGPT at 8:05 a.m while the class is still going on and already has a well written 15-page academic paper before 8:15 am.
The introduction is impressive. The grammar is excellent. The references look professional. Even the conclusion sounds as though the student has spent three months in a research laboratory. Only the students know who is who.
Unfortunately, that student may not understand the first paragraph of what is written.
WELCOME TO THE NEW ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE!
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing how students learn, research, write and complete academic assignments. Tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Grok AI, Gemini and other generative AI platforms can produce essays, solve mathematical problems, explain scientific concepts, generate computer codes and summarise academic materials within seconds.
There is no denying that these technologies have enormous educational benefits if one thinks about it critically.
However, there is a growing problem and that begins with a fundamental question;
When students begin outsourcing the very intellectual activities they are supposed to develop, what exactly are universities certifying?
Are we awarding degrees to knowledgeable graduates or to people who have mastered the art of giving instructions to machines?
The difference matters especially for a developing country as Nigeria.
A university education is not simply about producing documents, passing examinations or collecting certificates, this truth is more evident in this modern.
We need educated minds that can developing independent thinking, analytical reasoning, research competence, problem-solving abilities, minds that are capable of defending one's own deductions and conclusions.
AI can assist with these activities, but it should not become a permanent substitute for them.
2. Is AI genuinely improving education, or is it quietly destroying the learning process?
Imagine a medical student who uses AI to generate an entire research assignment on the causes, symptoms and management of a particular disease.
AI delivers the goods, the assignment is excellent. The lecturer awards a generous score of 85%.
But can the student independently explain the disease, interpret laboratory results or make informed clinical decisions?
Let’s not jump to conclusions yet, now consider yet again, a law student who uses AI to prepare an entire legal argument without reading the relevant cases, statutes or judicial decisions.
What happens when that graduate eventually faces a real legal problem?
The danger is not that these students are using technology, the real danger is that they may graduate with certificates that suggest a level of competence they have not actually acquired.
This creates what we might call ACADEMIC COMPETENCE INFLATION
the submitted work looks increasingly sophisticated while the student's independent ability remains underdeveloped.
There is also the problem of plagiarism, fabricated references, inaccurate information, invented research findings and overdependence on generated answers.
AI systems can confidently produce incorrect information. A beautifully written answer is not necessarily a correct answer.
3. Does Nigeria already have laws protecting academic integrity against the misuse of artificial intelligence?
Nigeria is not starting from an entirely empty legal space as many may think though.
Several existing laws and regulatory frameworks already provide foundations for protecting academic integrity, intellectual property, personal information and the credibility of educational institutions.
However, we must distinguish between laws that regulate general misconduct and specific regulations governing the use of generative AI in academic work.
Some important existing frameworks include;
A. National Universities Commission (NUC) Guidelines
The National Universities Commission has already recognised the need for universities to establish policies addressing plagiarism and AI-assisted academic work.
The NUC's Guidelines for e-Learning in Nigerian Universities, revised in April 2023, specifically state under section 4.9.2 that universities should:
"Ensure that there are plagiarism and AI-assisted policies in place to guarantee originality of research outputs by staff and learners."
This means that the conversation about AI-assisted academic misconduct is not entirely new to Nigeria's university regulatory framework.
However, having a recommendation is different from having a uniform, enforceable national policy.
Universities still need clear rules defining acceptable and unacceptable AI use across different academic activities.
B. Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023
This law protects personal data and establishes requirements for the lawful processing of personal information.
Why does this matter in education?
Students and researchers increasingly upload academic documents, interview transcripts, personal information and research participants' responses into AI platforms, which may or may not be used to creating or training AI agents or LLMS.
Some of these materials may contain confidential information.
Universities must therefore consider what happens to information uploaded to external AI platforms, how it is processed and whether appropriate safeguards are in place.
AI convenience should not become an excuse for careless handling of people's information.
C. Copyright Act 2022
Nigeria's Copyright Act 2022 provides a framework for protecting eligible original literary, artistic, musical and other creative works.
This is relevant because students and researchers frequently work with academic publications, books, journal articles, research materials and other protected works.
Using AI does not automatically give someone permission to reproduce another person's protected work.
Equally, questions surrounding ownership and protection of AI-generated material require careful consideration under applicable copyright law.
D. Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act 2015, as amended in 2024
This legislation addresses various forms of cybercrime and unlawful activities involving computer systems and digital technologies.
Although it is not a university AI-use law, it provides a broader legal framework relevant to digital misconduct, computer-related offences and the misuse of technology.
It should not be confused with a law that automatically makes ordinary AI-assisted academic writing illegal.
NOTE:
Nigeria already has legal instruments that address several consequences of irresponsible technology use.
What remains necessary is a clearer academic framework specifically addressing AI-assisted learning, assessment, research and academic authorship.
4. If Nigeria already has these laws, why are students still freely submitting AI-generated academic work?
Because regulating academic integrity is not simply about having laws. It is also about implementation. Laws must be implemented!
A university may have plagiarism regulations, but does its policy clearly explain what constitutes AI-assisted academic misconduct?
Does the student know whether using AI to generate an entire essay is prohibited?
Can a lecturer distinguish between acceptable language assistance and the outsourcing of an entire research assignment?
What happens when a student submits AI-generated references that do not exist?
And perhaps most importantly, what happens when a student uses AI to complete an examination or practical assessment that is supposed to establish independent competence?
These questions require specific answers.
There is also an uncomfortable reality
And that is, some institutions are still adapting to technologies that students have already integrated into their everyday academic activities. The proverb “ While we crawled, our opponents sprinted unto victory” comes to my mind.
Students are learning how to use AI faster than some institutions are learning how to regulate its use and it won’t stop any soon because AI is still advancing.
That is a rather interesting administrative arrangement!
A university cannot simply tell students to embrace technology on Monday and then discover on Friday that it has no policy governing how that technology should be used.
5. Are Nigerian universities completely ignoring the problem?
Not exactly.
Some Nigerian institutions have begun establishing institutional AI policies.
For example, Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED) has published an institutional policy addressing responsible AI use in teaching, learning, research and academic administration.
The policy recognises academic integrity, transparency, privacy, human oversight and intellectual property.
Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) has also published an AI policy framework addressing undergraduate education, postgraduate research, assessment and academic integrity.
Its framework identifies practices such as submitting AI-generated work as entirely original, fabricating research content and generating false references as unacceptable.
Babcock University has also published an AI policy addressing assessment design, permitted AI applications, academic integrity and the importance of human oversight.
These developments demonstrate that Nigerian universities are beginning to recognise that simply banning technology is not necessarily the solution.
The challenge is to establish clear boundaries between using AI to support learning and using AI to avoid learning.
6. Should Nigeria ban students from using artificial intelligence in universities?
No. At least, not entirely. A complete ban would be unrealistic, difficult to enforce and potentially counterproductive.
AI is already part of modern workplaces, scientific research, engineering, medicine, business and communication.
Graduates will eventually encounter these technologies in their professional lives.
It would therefore be unreasonable to prepare students for a technology-driven world while pretending the technology does not exist.
However, there must be academic activities where independent human competence takes priority over artificial assistance. The objective should not be to punish students for knowing how to use technology.
It should be to prevent technology from becoming a shortcut around the very knowledge universities are supposed to develop. After all, a calculator does not make someone a mathematician simply because it can produce the correct answer.
THE BIG QUESTION FOR NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES MUST CAREFULLY EXAMINE
If a student cannot independently explain, defend or reproduce the knowledge contained in a submitted assignment, should that assignment be accepted as sufficient evidence of learning? Great writeup. However, there are two sides to a coin in the 3D dimension. Maybe, if we think outside 3D, towards 4D and beyond, we can agree that you've said about 5% of the truth on this discourse. |
Education › Re: Ai Is Taking Over Our Universities: Who Is Protecting The Student's Brain? by lordobas(m): 9:32pm On Nov 12
