OPINION

By Kefa Atibuni

On September 30, 2023, I had the privilege of hosting a one-hour webinar that delved into the revolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in higher education. Esteemed experts from Muni University's Faculty of Technoscience joined the discussion, aiming to unravel strategies for preserving academic integrity in this age of AI while exploring innovative teaching methods and assessment techniques.

During the discussion, Dr. Geoffrey Andogah, the faculty Dean, passionately elaborated on the ubiquitous influence of AI across all sectors and urged all participants to embrace this technological wave. He proudly highlighted the introduction of the Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence programme within the faculty, emphasising its role in preparing students to meet the challenges of the fifth industrial revolution.

Ms. Nakayiza Hellen Raudha, Assistant Lecturer in Computer Science at the CIS Department of the Faculty of Technoscience, made a compelling presentation, emphasising how AI holds the promise of significant benefits for education. These benefits include personalised learning through virtual teaching assistants and smart content delivery, generating feedback through data analysis, and revolutionising teaching methods with virtual classrooms and automation of administrative tasks (QBoTs), among other advancements.

On the much hyped ethical implications of AI in teaching and learning such as data privacy, bias, and the use of generative AI by students to cheat in essays and other exams, Ms. Raudha highlighted the necessity to adopt new strategies to navigate the domain including the use of multi-modal channels for exam questions, robust regulations, revisions of institutional academic integrity policies, educational campaigns, and strategic adaptation measures such as integrating AI as a co-instructor. According to her, the real threat to our students’ education is not Machine Learning and AI, but how we measure and value human learning and human intelligence.

Interestingly, the discourse took an abrupt turn when participants flooded the messages section with expressions like "creepy" and "spooky" as the presenter revealed that ChatGPT, the AI chatbot, could now "listen," "process images," and "speak" much like a human being.

For every reason, and in my view, this kind of reaction cannot be said to be an isolated case of a single webinar because the meeting drew participants from different parts of the country, signifying our society's high level of technophobia, showcasing a need to demystify AI, making it a priority within our learning institutions and across academic programmes.

In March 2019, Microsoft and Times Higher Education released the results of the AI Survey conducted worldwide. Although university leaders agree that AI will be a very significant issue for higher education over the next 10-15 years, only 41% of the institutions surveyed had an AI strategy in place and 43% had budget allocated for such projects. You can only imagine the results of a similar survey in the Ugandan context.

Understandably, being a fairly new concept in the history of the country, one of the challenges most universities face in managing AI is the absence of policy documents addressing it. This is primarily because most organisational policies were written long before the AI revolution and haven't been reviewed to date, thus creating a permanent gap in handling AI issues.

In light of these challenges, I believe that rather than shying away from AI, we should seize the challenge of creating a responsible and ethical framework to guide its development and deployment. Universities, therefore, need to strategically adapt to AI integration by investing in faculty training and infrastructure development. The future is here, and AI is an integral part of it. Let us embrace this future with open arms and shape it responsibly for the benefit of all.

The writer is a Senior Communication Officer at Muni University