MITIGATING TERTIARY STUDENTS’ UNETHICAL USE OF AI USING LANGUAGE AND CRITICAL LITERACY

The misuse of artificial intelligence (AI) by students of tertiary institutions is raising serious concerns among teachers, school administrators and other stakeholders in the education sector. Concerns about students’ misuse of AI are yet to gain deserving scholarly exploration. This descriptive research is aimed at exploring the place of language and critical literacy in the mitigation of students’ unethical use of AI. Its objectives include showing how language and critical literacy can be deployed to mitigate unethical use of AI by students of tertiary students. Qualitative tools, such as interpretive devices, critical skills and content and thematic analyses, are employed. The study shows that through their techniques and skills, language and critical literacy can aptly serve as a viable mechanism for mitigating tertiary students’ unethical use of AI for academic purposes. It concludes that through strategic, pragmatic and expertise use of language and the exposure of students to critical literacy in the course AI education, students become poised to using AI ethically rather than unethically. Teachers, school administrators and other stakeholders are charged to deploy language and critical literacy for classroom-based re/orientation of students on best practices in using AI for academic purposes.