CHATGPT: IMPACT ON ACADEMIC RESEARCH AND EDUCATION IN NIGERIA

Abstract

As the contemporary world is on the precipice of technological revolution, there is a pointer already that research and education are becoming inextricably intertwined with artificial intelligence. Such symbiosis has however generated a lot of debates in the academia. This is particularly the case with chatGPT. The issue of propriety of chatGPT’s admittance in research field and education has been on the front burner. Since its debut, chatGPT has been received differently in various quarters. This ranges from outright rejection to optimistic acceptance. While the optimistic acceptance harps on the chatGPT’s potentials, the rejection is premised on its negative effects on learning and research. The present work, using the method of hermeneutics and analysis seeks to evaluate the potentials of chatGPT on the one hand and the pedagogical and ethical challenges of the new artificial intelligence with regard to research integrity and educational efficiency, on the other hand. It carries out its study within the Nigerian context. The paper underscores that in many ways the Nigerian culture devalues education, a scenario that makes young people perceive education as scam. It then argues that notwithstanding its positive potentials, chatGPT could be in the hand of students within such education-debasing society as found in Nigeria, a made-easy tool that offers a shortcut away from creative research and dogged learning. The paper harps therefore, on the need for a concerted effort to establish some guiding principles with ethical, pedagogical, technological ramifications for a more constructive use of the chatGPT as it offers Hosseini’s proposal as starting point, while it points out that such effort would only be effective as an aftermath of creating a culture that values ducation and a system that makes education relevant for life.