Prof. Hauwa Ibrahim, Senior International Scholar-in-Residence at Wellesley College and Harvard University, has raised concerns over the growing and largely unregulated use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education and in the everyday lives of children.
Speaking at the Abuja Children’s Home, Karu, Ibrahim said the rapid integration of AI tools into academic work is making it increasingly difficult to distinguish between genuine student effort and machine-generated content.
Currently involved in grading examinations, the scholar described the challenge of identifying original student submissions, referring to emerging technology as “ChildGPT.”
“I don’t know which one was written by the child and which one was written by the student. The only way I can compare is to ask them to write a personal note to me; immediately, I see this is not their writing,” she said.
Ibrahim acknowledged the existence of AI-detection tools but noted that technological advancements in 2026 are evolving faster than regulatory and monitoring mechanisms.
She warned that the latest generation of student-focused AI tools is increasingly designed to harvest human data and serve corporate interests, rather than prioritising the intellectual development of young users.
“We are losing our software. I am urging Nigeria as a country to protect its youth and children from the pervasive influence of digital gadgets before a certain age,” she said.
The professor advocated more emphasis on physical, hands-on experiences for children, encouraging parents to promote outdoor play and tactile engagement with the real world.
“Let them go and play with wheels, feel life with their fingers, and engage with the natural environment,” she urged.
Addressing the broader digital landscape, Ibrahim highlighted concerns about Nigeria’s position in the global technology ecosystem, describing the country largely as a consumer of infrastructure it does not control.
“We have not sent anything to the satellite,” she noted, pointing out that local data is often stored in large offshore server systems.
She also cautioned about the growing capabilities of AI in content manipulation, stating that just a few seconds of a person’s voice can now be used to generate hours of fabricated video content.
Ibrahim called for deliberate and cautious integration of AI into Nigeria’s educational curriculum, stressing the need for safeguards to protect children’s intellectual growth and digital identity.