The Use of AI in Research Work

4 Lessons from judging a literary competition at my Alma Mater…

Recently, I was nominated to be among the judges in a prestigious literary competition in one of the schools around my vicinity.

As a competition, this was organized to foster literary skills among the students.

This competition was composed of essays and poetry.

As usual, guidelines were given in awarding grades to the participants.

The writing was on the theme: The Reality of Virtual Life in Contemporary Society.

One of the criteria for judgment was based on originality.

This was to test the student's ability to think out ideas.

So many wrote something wonderful, but when we delved deeper, we saw that many of the points were AI-generated.

This was possible following the apps we used to test and check for AI-generated content.

It now dawned on us that many people do not really know how to use this simple but complex tool for research in the intellectual field.

It further buttresses the fact that its use has many pros and cons that have not been explored.

From the foregoing, I was able to arrive at the following lessons…

#1. AI has come to stay…

In many spheres of human endeavors, AI has become a dominant force in them.

The society cannot function efficiently without applying them in one way or another.

This is seen in research, security, hospitals, transportation, communication, etc.

The best thing humanity can do is integrate them properly without letting them take over our thinking ability.

#2. Students no longer do adequate research…

As bad as it may sound, human beings are attuned to seeking comfort and an easy way to achieve a given task.

The AI has offered us this tool to make life easier and faster.

The danger here is that people do not open their books to give critical reviews of ideas.

From the competition, we saw students copying and pasting without editing or even citing.

This shows that the culture of reading and in-depth research is being replaced with mediocrity and lack of depth in work.

Suffice to say that the fun of intellectual encounters are now replaced with simple click and paste.

#3. There is an urgent need for awareness campaign on the use and abuse of AI

So many students are very comfortable writing whatever the AI gives them.

They do not have other options that might be available.

We observed that the students waited for the deadline for submitting this essay and few days before they copied points from AI.

This was obvious by seeing 6 or more students writing the same points, the same citation and the same English language.

This points to the fact that we have just embraced the AI without properly understanding it.

To curb this menace, there should be seminars, conferences, demonstrations to teach the students how to apply this tool in their research work.

AI should be an aid to work and not allowing it to do the whole works.

#4. Humans should try to set limits on the work that they should send to AI…

As funny as it may sound, the AI is proned to making series of mistakes and errors.

This is owing to the fact that the algorithms there are set to address and answer certain questions.

There are limits to which AI can go.

So many culture and traditions of the people are not contained in the AI.

This has led to several errors and misuse of ideas.

When students understand this, they will bend down, take their time, read, write and have the capacity to produce meaningful results

Amidst all these, the AI has come to stay in the society and humans should try to integrate it properly in their day to day activities.

# I am Stanley Chibuike and I believe in the efficient use of technology.

# Technological innovations should serve the human society properly.

# Feel free to share your thoughts on how to integrate AI into the academic community.

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# I love you all….