Embrace Artificial Intelligence With Ethics, VC Urges Nigerians
. Let’s Revolutionalise Education With AI, Says Galaxy Backbone Boss
By Sulaimon Salau
The Vice-Chancellor of African School of Economics (The Pan African University of Excellence), Prof. Mahfouz Adedimeji, has urged Africans in general and Nigerians in particular to embrace Artificial Intelligence (AI) while cautioning that it must be used ethically.
Adedimeji made this submission in his address, “The Past is Present, The Present is Now”, delivered at the maiden Public Lecture of the university held on Thursday, January 30, 2024.
At the event, the Managing Director and CEO of Galaxy Backbone Limited, an agency of the Federal Government, Prof. Ibrahim Adeyanju, also delivered a lecture with the theme: “Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Higher Education in Africa”.
Adedimeji, who is a two-time Vice-Chancellor, said humanity today stands precariously at the brink of a precipice with fascinating and disruptive technologies that can be used to make life easy and abused to commit atrocities.
He described Artificial Intelligence, once a subject of science fiction, as a current reality that permeates various facets of our lives, with its potential in education being amazing, adding that it is part of the past that is still present and it is an innovation that will still shape the future and the future is here already.
“With AI, it is possible for each student to receive personalised instruction. We can also analyse vast amounts of data and gain insights into how each student learns best, meaning that a one-size-fits-all model of education may no longer be applicable or sustainable.
“AI opens new doors to customised learning experiences that nurtures each student’s potential. With instructional tools, education can be more dynamic, engaging and interactive, sparking curiosity, igniting creative thinking and fostering a love for lifelong learning,” he said.
He also noted the indispensable roles of AI in facilitating access to education. “We know that AI can facilitate global access to quality education, the fourth Sustainable Development Goal, and bring world-class resources to remote and underserved areas, thereby breaking down geographical barriers and democratising access to knowledge. Students anywhere can also have access to the same cutting-edge materials and expert instruction available somewhere, leveling the playing field like never before. The opportunities are limitless,” he stressed.
Nevertheless, he warned against its abuse, arguing that while Africans embark on the exciting journey that AI offers, there is a need for protocol, policies and frameworks the safeguard those values that are dear to us from being eroded, so that technology one day does not become our master, controlling and misleading us.
He added that the tail should not wag the dog and humans should always be in charge, not that we should allow technology to control us.
He illustrated the need for ethical use of AI with the situation encountered in the 2004 American film, “I, Robot”, which stars Will Smith. He said the film futuristically portrays intelligent robots filling up public service positions with a smart but technophobic cop investigating a crime that might have been perpetrated by a robot, which eventually constitutes a threat to humanity.
He noted that there is ultimately a deadly class between smart robots and humans in the film portraying the threat to humans that created them.
Adedimeji further used the occasion to invite applicants to the University, which he described as a convention university that offers 20 academic programmes in Arts, Social Sciences, Science and Computing as well as Allied Health Sciences at the undergraduate level.
He added that his university also runs approved postgraduate programmes in Economics, Public Administration, Business Administration as well as Finance and Management.
Meanwhile, a professor of Cybersecurity and Managing Director of Galaxy Backbone Limited, Prof. Ibrahim Adeyanju, called on African leaders to modernise and revolutionalise education with Artificial Intelligence.
Adeyanju made this call in Abuja while delivering the maiden Public Lecture of the African School of Economics (The Pan-African University of Excellence) on “Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Higher Education in Africa” on Thursday, January 30, 2025.
He emphasised the importance of education in advancing sustainable development and achieving socio-economic growth. He regretted that despite the progress that Africa has made in recent years, it is still constrained by backwardness in education which has limited its capacity to compete with some other regions of the world.
The AI expert identified low teacher effectiveness and high out-of-school are some of the problems thwarting the educational development of Africans. He then advocated for the integration of AI to address the challenges facing education in Africa.
According to him, “AI can revolutionalise African education through language learning, chatbots and virtual classrooms. It can also provide tailored learning experiences and improve access to quality education in remote areas.”
Adeyanju recommended forging culturally grounded and ethical frameworks, empowering educators through comprehensive training, bridging digital divides with strategic initiatives, fostering indigenous AI solutions and addressing infrastructural deficits among others as part of the way forward for Africans to cope with the challenges of the future.
