Artificial Intelligence is a technology with computer sequence that creates a system capable of imitating human intelligence. It allows machines to perform tasks that are specifically reserved for human cognition. Relatively a new visitor to Africa, AI took root in Europe as far back as 1950 and the term was first mentioned by Professor John McCarthy of Stanford University, California, the United States in 1955.

AI has seen increasing use of such tools as virtual assistants and search engines, notably spanning 2012 and 2024, in which the latter year (2024) has introduced image recognition and NLP speech recognition into the system.

This amazing new trend mimics humans to produce accurate captions, and it is growing fastand aiding diverse sectors of society. By the way, AI-generated videos and AI-assisted academic materials have become worrisome in the present era due to the frequent clicking on and excessive downloading of them.

The merits of AI include cost reduction, improving safety, enhancing decision-making, reducing risk and human error, detecting fraud, where it interprets how transactionsare done and also flags upquestionable spending.With the appropriate mechanism in place, AI grows your job. AI creator course is in vogue, beckoning on us for embrace. Incredibly, AI can translate our dreams and play them back.

AI also assists human resources personnel in job recruitment by vetting curriculum vitae and interviewing applicants; reduces stress; and brings productivity and efficiency into students and tutors’ careers. The world is awash with AI and schools are under pressure to integrate the technology into their curricula.

Teachers use AI ‘to support students with learning differences, create assessments, tailor content to students’ needs, generate lesson plan and develop assignments’, says LauraineLangreo.

The demerits of AI, however, include the direction which many people, including computer experts themselves, fear it is heading. Artificial Intelligence leads to cyberbullying/stalking, fraud and mental health risks. It has displaced jobs and caused security breach. Complex complaints lodged by customers can’t be handled by AI.

Also, students’ over-reliance on AI for research/assignments stifles their creativity, thereby eroding their confidence in handling challenging tasks.Worse still, AI has blown out of proportion the truth about crisis situations (e.g. terrorism and kidnappings) in many countries of the world.

Techie Jean-Marie Valheur, for example maintains that many of the things happening around the globe demonstrate how scary AI-generated images and videos can be used to ruin people. “You can basically make anyone say or do anything”, he had said. I’m of the opinion that when it comes to videos and audios, AI is a good liar that spreads hate and kills trust. Internet users who click on AI-generated videos often reveal how ready they’re to take lies for truths.

Artificial Intelligence leads to sextortion and ransomware, where the perpetrator extorts money from mostly susceptible school teenagers, unmindful of the consequences and trauma caused the victims and their family.

Sextortion, according to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, is when an online predator tricks someone into giving them nude images or videos and then demands money, more images, or makes other demands – threatening to share the images with the victims’ friend(s) and family if they don’t comply.

Data released by the Internet Watch Foundation(IWF) indicates that teenage boys and girls between the ages of 11 and 17 are mostly vulnerable to sextortion. Although accurate figures are often difficult to get, the U.S. crime figures say cases of sextortion have hit 26,700, with at least 27 boys committing suicide, whilst the UK police have been said to receive 111 reports of child sextortion attempts monthly.

Another demerit of AI is that it struggles with context and elegant sentence structures, hinders critical thinking, gives doubtful feedback (answers), and lures unwary, careless users (researchers/students) into the snare of plagiarism. In addition, it can’t capture the literal meaning of all idioms, e.g. ‘cat got your tongue,’ and explain all slang, e.g. ‘yarn dust’ and wazobia.

Can AI write your biography, and grade your essay accurately as does your teacher? Indeed the innovation has turned many school students into copycats, lazybones and mere dependants, and it makes no sense for great writers to submit their writings to AI, which itself is being prompted by humans.

Parents and teachers can control the negative influence of AI on children and students by serious monitoring. Although many parents are out there who don’t reject AI, just as some aren’t aware of it; those aware haven’treally enforced stringent rules to check its negative impact on their children. Thus, parents should use special tools to filter or monitor the devices operated by their wards, as this will enable them to know what’s going on in theirlife.

There should be a limit to the number of hours that children should spend on their devices. Also, educating children on ethical behavior is an important role expected of parents/teachers.

Children have to be warned that the people they interact with online may be unreal. From time to time, parents should ask their children questions in order to elicit useful information concerning the children’s activities.

In fact, safety measures, such as chat logs, parental dashboards and AI-specific usage reports, should be practised by parents. Then preference for things that encourage learning, without necessarily replacing imagination or human interaction, is welcomed.

Teachers should preach responsible and ethical use of AI tools, foster critical thinking and ensure connection in learning. Students should be made to understand that the help AI can render them is limited and that those who submit AI-assisted works will be exposed and jailed. They should be guided on how to evaluate AI-generated materials, and establish from various sources the authenticity of such materials.

Education Week has reported that the number of teachers now integrating AI into their lesson has risen from 40 to 60 per cent. Thus, to protect students from the harmful influence of AI, it will not be out of place for teachers to marry AI with human interaction, ensuring collaboration in the learning process and emphasising that AI is a handmaiden of human interaction.

Lastly, teachersshould devise engaging contents and use AI to provide the students’ experiences that specifically meet their needs, interests, strengths and skills.

Tamsin McNally, Hotline Manager at the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), sounded this note of warning: ‘The sense of shame and fear inflicted on AIvictims makes it so hard for them to speak out about what is happening to them. We need to keep pushing the knowledge there is something they can do to take power away from the criminals.’

In addition to the foregoing claim, there are AI plantains, apples, eggs, etc. in the markets today, collaborating to deceive unsuspecting people into accepting them as real. So, if you happen to be caught in the web of AI, rest assured that your parents and your teachers will remain your minders.

Sola wrote from Port Harcourt.