AI and Plagiarism: Experts Speak on New Trends in Tertiary Education
KNUST E-Learning Week Podcast
Artificial Intelligence is quickly changing how students and teachers interact with academic content. A panel at the KNUST E-Learning Week Podcast, moderated by Anita Kumah, explored how AI tools like ChatGPT are shaping research practices and raising concerns about plagiarism.
The panel featured Dr. Henry Nunoo-Mensah, a senior lecturer in Computer Engineering at KNUST, Prof. Ebenezer Malcalm, Dean of Graduate Studies and Research at GCTU, and Prof. Michael Poku-Boansi, Director of Graduate Studies at KNUST.
Dr. Nunoo-Mensah began by explaining what AI is.
"Artificial intelligence is when machines are trained to do what humans can do, especially tasks that are repetitive or require handling large amounts of data,” he said.
He noted that many AI tools today can produce text that sounds natural and well-written, making it harder to detect whether a student has used one.
Prof. Malcalm described plagiarism as taking someone else’s work without giving credit.
“It becomes worse when you take so much that it’s hard to tell what is yours and what is not,” he explained.
He said some students believe using AI is just research, but the difference lies in whether they properly reference the sources and paraphrase the content.
Prof. Poku-Boansi added, “A good academic supervisor can tell when a student is submitting work that’s beyond their normal ability.”
He explained that some supervisors have read theses where not a single edit was needed, yet the student could not explain what they had written. “That’s a red flag,” he said. AI tools often generate content without references, which creates problems for academic standards.
“Students think because they pay to use AI apps, it means they’ve made an effort,” said Anita Kumah. But Prof. Malcalm disagreed, saying, “You cannot replace hard research with just typing prompts into a tool. It’s not enough.”
Dr. Nunoo-Mensah emphasized that AI should be an assistant, not a replacement.
“It’s fine to use AI to break writer’s block or create a first draft, but you must review and build on that draft yourself. That’s where learning happens,” he said.
Another concern is that AI sometimes creates fake sources, a problem known as “hallucination.”
Prof. Malcalm cautioned students: “AI tools may give you references that don’t even exist. If you don’t check, you could be quoting ghost articles.”
All the panelists agreed that educators must become more aware of these tools.
“Some students are ahead of their lecturers in tech knowledge,” said Prof. Malcalm. “If we don’t keep up, we can’t guide them properly.”
The session was part of KNUST’s E-Learning Week activities, which focus on the future of education in a digital age.
Published: 31st July, 2025 Source: KNUST E-Learning Centre