Prof. Hauwa Ibrahim, a Senior International Scholar-in-Residence at Wellesley College and Harvard University, has raised a red flag over the unchecked adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the educational sector and the daily lives of children.
Speaking in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the Abuja Children’s Home, Karu, Ibrahim expressed deep concern over the blurring lines between human intelligence and machine generated content in academic settings.
The renowned scholar, who is currently grading examinations, confessed to the difficulty of distinguishing between original student work and that produced by “ChildGPT,” as she termed the emerging technology.
“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 noted that despite the existence of tools designed to detect AI-generated content, the technology is evolving so rapidly in 2026, to the extent of consistently outpacing measurement instruments.
She warned that the “Student AI” of 2026, an upgrade from the previous year, is systematically collecting human data to build tools that serve specific corporate purposes rather than the growth of the individual.
“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 Don advocated for a return to tactile, physical play, urging parents to encourage children to “go and play with wheels,” “feel life with your fingers,’’ and engage with the natural environment.
Reflecting on the digital divide, she pointed out that Nigeria remains a consumer in a global infrastructure it does not own, noting that “we have not sent anything to the satellite,’’ yet local data is stored in vast underwater servers.
Ibrahim cautioned that three seconds of a person’s voice is now sufficient for AI to create a three-hour fabricated video, stressing the need for extreme caution in how the nation integrates AI into its school curriculum.
