Nigerian students question if classroom AI makes them smarter or lazy

This Tribune feature is a reminder that in many education systems, AI is already woven into daily study habits long before regulators or curricula have caught up. Nigerian students describe using AI to clarify difficult topics, summarize notes and structure assignments, but they also articulate the core tension: tools that scaffold understanding can quickly become tools that do the work for you. That tension will shape public legitimacy for AI far more than any technical benchmark—if parents and teachers conclude that AI mostly erodes rigor, they will push back regardless of how capable frontier models become.([tribuneonlineng.com](https://tribuneonlineng.com/has-artificial-intelligence-made-students-smarter-or-lazier/?utm_source=openai))

For the AGI race, classroom norms are an under‑appreciated lever. A generation that grows up using AI as a thinking aid rather than a thinking substitute is more likely to develop the domain expertise and critical faculties needed to work safely with increasingly capable systems. Conversely, if students habituate to outsourcing cognitive labor wholesale, we risk narrowing the pool of people who can meaningfully oversee advanced AI in the future. The piece also highlights a global equity angle: Nigerian students are grappling with the same questions as their peers in the US or Europe, but often with less institutional guidance, which could widen gaps in how effectively different countries harness AI for human capital.