On October 20, 2023, the Writing Center hosted an enlightenment discussion that featured a seven-man panel to discuss the theme "Championing Academic Integrity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (AI)," in the e-Library 24-hour Room. The event attracted many students, and they listened carefully to expert opinions.
The panelists include President DeWayne Frazier, the Dean of SAS, Dr. Patrick Fay, Dean of SITC, Prof. Ozcan Asilkan, Asst. Prof. Alexey Vedishchev of SITC, President and VP of SGA, Mr. Talford Ongolo and Mr. Farouk Abubakar, respectively, and the SGA Director of Academics for SAS and President, Women Leadership Council, Ms. Faith-Emmanuela Akpan.
The discussions highlighted the importance of AI in academic learning, its capability to improve knowledge, and the need not to depend on AI but to take advantage of it relatively and responsibly to avoid plagiarism. Even though AI can mimic human activities and solve human problems, many of its shortcomings may render students' work useless or result in a penalty.
The deliberations also explored intellectual property, the law, and the need to abide by rules guiding its use by students and scholars. The need to reference authorities and material used in all forms of academic writing and strive for originality in students' academic writing was also emphasized, even though all scholarly works depend on using other authorities' materials and data for improvement.
The event was hosted by the Director of the Writing Center, Mrs. Emilliene Akpan, and anchored by Ms. Aisha Ibrahim and Ms. Inayat Sani Haliru.
Reported by John Abah