Prof. Awe made the call while delivering a lecture titled “Foundations of Artificial Intelligence: Understanding AI and Its Academic Ecosystem” during a one-day AI-Powered Research and Learning Workshop organized by the Centre for Data Science and Certification Courses (CDSCC), OAUSTECH, in partnership with ADA Global Academy, an affiliate of LISA, USA.

The workshop held at OAUSTECH’s main campus, Okitipupa, on Tuesday, 4th August, 2026.

According to him, the 3 Cs of responsible AI use are: Check – verify AI-generated information; Cite – disclose the source; and Critique – apply one’s own rational and factual judgement

He stated that it is time for teachers, students, and administrators in Nigeria to embrace AI, noting that it has tremendously transformed education, teaching, learning, research, and administration.

Prof. Awe described AI as a branch of computer science concerned with building systems that can perform tasks requiring human intelligence such as understanding language, recognizing patterns, reasoning, planning, and learning from experience.

“In simple terms, AI systems are given data, and through mathematical models, learn to recognize patterns and make predictions, or generate outputs, without being explicitly programmed step by step for every scenario,” he explained.

He stressed that AI, which dates back to the 1950s when Alan Turing asked “Can machines think?”, is here to move humanity forward and should be explored intelligently in all spheres of human endeavor.

In an online session, Prof. Olena Yaroshenko from Ukraine spoke extensively on “Hands-on Practical Application of Prompt Engineering: The Art and Science of Communicating with Large Language Models (LLMs)”.

Also speaking, Dr. M. I. Adarabioyo of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, in his “Live AI Clinic” lecture, explained that AI supports topic generation, literature review, research design, data collection, cleaning, analysis, visualization, report writing, and publication. He noted that AI complements but does not replace the researcher.
He added that AI helps save time, improves efficiency, processes large datasets, enhances predictions, supports interdisciplinary research, and promotes reproducibility.

However, he cautioned that AI may hallucinate facts, reflect biases, misinterpret prompts, and generate inaccurate citations, hence the need for painstaking verification.

In his remarks, the Vice-Chancellor of OAUSTECH, Prof. Temi Ologunorisa, represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and Research), Prof. Foluso Adetuyi, said AI has come to help humanity and not to replace critical thinking.
“Never take AI information hook, line and sinker, but always make thorough checks and confirmation. Learn, utilize and impact,” the VC charged.

Earlier in his welcome address, the Director of CDSCC, Prof. Ezekiel Abiodun Oyekan, said the workshop was designed to move participants beyond talking about AI to exploring practical ways of applying it in research, teaching, learning, academic writing, and data analysis.

“Artificial Intelligence may truly provide the tool, but human intelligence provides the direction, judgement, values, and purpose,” he stated.

Prof. Oyekan appreciated the University Management, ADA Global Academy, resource persons, and participants for their support and commitment to innovation and capacity development.

Source:

Directorate of Information, Protocol & Public Relations (DIPPR)

OAUSTECH