JOHANNESBURG - Universities South Africa says Artificial Intelligence (AI) needs to be regulated as the misuse of the tool increasingly finds its way into exams and assessments.
Phethiwe Matutu, Universities South Africa CEO, says there was a serious risk of academic integrity and the value of qualifications.
“It is a serious risk; however, we are looking at the adoption of AI within universities, with the intention of coming up with a skills-based programme that we can implement,” Matutu said.
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Institutions are now racing to adapt policies, strengthen safeguards and rethink how students are evaluated.
Matutu said a comprehensive adoption of AI for academic and operational purposes within universities was needed to create efficiencies and an overarching policy.
“There must be proper integration and alignment in all these tools and universities must have people who are dedicated to do work in these areas. So far, research which has been conducted is pointing to only three institutions which are at that level.”
She said that while the majority of universities have AI guidelines, the problem remained uneven adoption.