Embracing AI in Education: Time for Change or Cause for Concern?

Like any other aspect of our lives, Artificial Intelligence has overtaken the global educational dynamic. Many students and scholars have already begun utilizing AI in their daily study programs and so far tremendous results have been achieved. However, many institutions and stakeholders in education dockets continue to oppose Artificial Intelligence as a means of study and an essential tool for research.

Let's discuss some of the underlying issues leading to the opposition to embracing AI in the education sector and if it is high time they embraced it as a reliable source of information among scholars.

The first time I interacted with Artificial Intelligence as a software developer back in 2021, I felt a sigh of relief and excitement due to the dynamic change of ease in my operations. I passed an error that was quite challenging in a Python programming language, and within seconds, I had my answer on how to solve the error ultimately. Initially, this process would take me at least an hour or more and more resources due to hoping from many web pages and multiple Stackoverflow solutions to get my answer.

Since then, many AI models have risen from chatGpt, Copilot, Grok, and now Gemini models which have continuously scaled to make educational solutions better. Many students from around the world have identified these game-changers and have embraced them as their assistants in tackling assignments, reports, and essays as well as in coming up with great Curriculum Vitae and other important documents in their careers. In their disbelieve, many lecturers and educational stakeholders have openly opposed these models and went ahead to embrace tools that detect text generated and written by these AI models.

In their defense, educational stakeholders have passed on some reasons why they oppose AI models in this field. They include:

a). Over-dependency leading to Laziness

Many lecturers are concerned by the ease of getting information in today's world. With just a simple prompt, a student can generate an entire essay that would take hours earlier by soaring across many resources in the library. They are convinced that students are no longer taking their time to study and research well in their fields and wait till the last minute and generate the assignments. This way they believe that the system will produce many incompetent scholars who don't qualify to run many aspects of the job market.

b). Uncensored and Inaccurate Information

Many AI models including Gemini and Copilot use data written across web pages to give feedback to any prompt asked by their users. The internet is invaded by many people who have shared their opinions on web pages and some of this data is inaccurate. The students who are accessing this data from the AI models have no idea if the data is correct or inaccurate and they utilize it leading to uncertainty in the accuracy of the information they learn.

c). Biasness and Control Issues

In recent occurrences, some AI models like Gemini have been accused of bias leading to racial and political bias. These accusations have been prompted by the feedback given by these models. This makes a strong point by educational stakeholders in the inability of the AI model to pass information that aligns with the ethical issues we should embrace as students.

d). Ranking Issues

Lecturers are not aware of how to rank students since they just use AI models to generate answers for their assignments and exams. You find that the answers given are all correct and the students who don't use the AI models have a greater chance of giving the wrong answers. So they are not aware if the students who use AI models should get more marks because they know how to utilize technology to their advantage.

On the other hand, students and scholars have raised some of their reasons why AI models should be embraced in their studies. They include:

a). Ease and Faster Access to Information

Students have come to enjoy the amazing aspect of getting the information they desire just by a simple prompt. This leads to less time in the library and enables them to have access to more information and means to get more information at a shorter period. This has opened many ways to get quality information and increase skills for many students, like learning a programming language.

b). Up-to-date and Reliable Information

In many universities worldwide, it takes several years before changing the curriculum leading to students using data that is outdated. In the fast-paced tech world, information keeps on changing in short-lived aspects leading to students feeling like they are learning outdated technologies. AI models, on the other hand, provide trending and up-to-date information that helps to solve various aspects of our daily lives.

c). AI is being Integrated in Job Markets

Many students are disappointed by the way AI models are not embraced in their learning but they find the same AI models being utilized in the job markets. These days, companies instead of using many personnel to analyze their markets, they utilize AI models that were prohibited in classrooms. This portrays the dilemma that AI models are embraced almost in every other aspect of life instead of the education sector.

This poses the question if AI models should be embraced in this critical field. What are your thoughts on this discussion? Use the WhatsApp icon on your right to share your views on this important discussion.

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