Conf42 Machine Learning 2025 - Online

- premiere 5PM GMT

Artificial Intelligence: Empowering Students, Not Replacing Universities

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Abstract

AI empowers students with smart tools while reinforcing—not replacing—universities. Drawing from real startup experience, Vahid Mohammadi explores how responsible AI use enhances learning, integrity, and institutional impact.

Summary

Transcript

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Hello everyone. Hope all you guys are well. My name is Vahid from University of TD and International Student Recruitment services company based in the uk and we recruit the students from all over the world to study in the uk. So if you want to study in the uk, just join us. Okay. Let's go. It's wonderful being with you today. I'd like to start with something we all know artificial intelligence which is no longer the future. It's already a big part of our lives and it's not going anywhere. Whether we like it or not AI is changing how we live, how we work, how we learn, even how we think. And in education, this change is happening fast. Students all over the world are using ai in their studies today. All of us know. And the question is, are they using it properly? Okay. A global survey by the digital digital Education Council in July, 2024, which included more than 3,800 students from 16 countries found that 86% of the students use AI in their studies. And more than half of them do so on a Bay Weekly basis. Most of the students say they use AI to research for information mainly to write assignments. About 86% 60, sorry, 66% said they used chat g Pity, showing just how prevalent the use of this tool has been. An additional report by Status Star published in August, 2024. Also included about two months late after, after two months. About previous survey also concluded that 86% of college students use AI tools for their studies. These statistics are attempting to inform us about something. AI is already a big part of education, but here the question, are students using AI to learn or are they using to replace learning? That's the question, that's the concern. Too many students with AI to do the work for them to do assignments instead of as a tool to help and empower them to think and create. This is where the concern begins. Today I want to talk about this concerns, but also the potential of the other concerns as well. Because when when used in the right way, AI can enhance a student, not replace universities. Let's explore how ai detectors AI detectors. Maybe many, you, many of you guys know or not. Programs designed to establish whether a written work was produced or with the assistance of artificial intelligence or not. And these programs have been installed by the majority of the schools, majority of profit university professors. These programs like ING, GPT Zero Regionality. And even Grammarly now are employed by the majority to check essay and assignments. Now, I'm not here to argue about whether these detectors are always correct. We know that they're not sick, honestly, and we already know they have so many problems and issues to detect the ai. They frequently get it wrong. And even human written stuff gets called hunting. But again they may get wrong, but this is the truth. Most professors don't depend on detectors only because they already know about AI detectors problems or possible problems on something like that. And. They con, they contrast the students' recent writing with what they've written before. They check their references as sites because AI programs such GGPT tend to use fictional or Foster Francis. Indeed. A study recently conducted reported that just 7% of chat g PT generated references were accurate and verifiable. They also search for suspicious patterns excessively formal tone, absence of personal voice or academic terminology that does not fit the students' normal styles that they know. Even some teachers talk with the students about how they write with them to see if they actually wrote or wrote it or just submitted what AI offered. So what did the student do? Another hack arrived after so many problems, AI humanizer. Okay, let's. Talk. What is ai humanize? Ai humanizes are softwares that makes material written by AI and rewards, rewards it so it sounds more human, and we can call it humanized. Nice. They attempt to fool AI detectors by changing sentence sentence structure tone and vocabulary even, or rephrase, paraphrase. And in the majority of cases they have succeeded, to be honest. They have succeeded and they've imposed on the system. But there is a real question. Did they make a difference? Professors still call it out. They sense the disconnect in tone, the lack of through thinking and that this, the disparity between the voice of this student and the end result. And more importantly students, don students themselves know when they did not actually do the work, let's something else. Even if the assignments is not called if if it wasn't written by the students. Let's think about that. That's not fair. It's not fair. There's no learning involved. Universities have different policies, actually different policies, and let me show you. Okay. Students, universities have different policies. Some of them ban AI use entirely. Others allow it, but. Only if the students disclose it. It's a controversial topic. Some professors view AI use as a cheating while other view it as a chance to learn. I remember one educator suggested recently, instead of putting detection front and center, let's change the way we design assignments. Make them personal, reflective or event event driven. Let's make it harder to outsource thinking. And I think that's the answer. I think that's the answer. We shouldn't fear ai, but we should fear a future where students do not think anymore. So now the question is, what is the right approach to using AI in education? How do we move from replacement to empowerment? Okay. Let's discuss about that in next. Let's pause a MO for a moment and imagine a different world. A word where students don't use AI to escape learning, but to deepen it, imagine students asking AI not to write their assignment, but to show them how to write, imagine, and AI that teaches them the structure of a strong say. That explain what makes an introduction, compelling how to organize arguments and how to critically analyze a source, something like that. Picture a student working on a difficult assignments and instead of handing it off to ai, they ask. I don't know how to start. Can you help me think it through? And the AI respond. Let's break it out. Let's break it down together. Here's what's unclear and here's how we can fix it. I like a trusted mentor, this AI gives feedback, identifies weaknesses, and guides the students step by step. But never does the work for them. I believe it's beautiful word, isn't it? Imagine about this AI mentor, AI friend. It's the world that real educators carrying professors and mentors already try to build. They they read every line of a student's assignments. They offer feedback not just on grammar, but on ideas. They don't just grade they guide. Now imagine an AI that assures the mission. This mission is, let's talk one that, two different ais. One of that refuses to do the work for you. Even if you ask another one says I won't write this for you, but I learn, teach you how to become someone who can, this is no longer a tool control. It's a friend. A friend who has your back, but also holds you accountable. In this world, AI doesn't replace learning. It re reinforces it. It pushes students to become independent thinkers, strong writers, better learners, and that's the shift we need. From common and controlled AI to collaborative, ethical, empowering ai let's stop asking AI to do our work and start asking to help us do it better. Okay. Okay, so where does that leave us? If we truly want AI to argue education and not detract from it, we must rethink our relationship with this technology. We need to move away from shortcuts. Away from plagiarism, away from mindsets of let AI do it for me. Instead, let's help a student see AI for what it should be. Powerful learning, power learning partner, powerful learning friend, learning mentor, let's instruct students and encouraging them, encourage them to use AI as a tool for exploration, feedback, and grow all. And Yeah, to ask more more. Informed questions to understand their mistakes, to grow with with each try not avoid the process. For in for, in its sense, AI was never meant to take the place of human learning. It was designed to accelerate human growth, right? And educator education. Real education isn't just about answers. It's about a struggle, reflection, wonder. It's learning to think not what to say. And also, let's create environments where students are not punished for leveraging ai. What to learn to leverage its responsibly, ethically, and creatively. Let's give them to. Competencies. The mindset. Mindset and the confidence to own their learning with the support of tools like ai. Because if we do, we not just protecting the future of education, we are taking it to a higher level. Okay? Yes. This better word, we can make this award and I think this word is possible. Okay. What is the best part? We are building it. We are developing a new AI powered platform in the ed tech education technology space. One that's not here to replace educators or right assignments is here to empower students to become. Better thinkers and better writers on this platform. Every students gets their own AI friend, a personalized academic guide. They can name they can interact with and grow on site. This is more than a chat bot. This is like an AI mentor. Instructed not only by code, but by actual academic professionals who understand the struggles students face with writing assignment. TE is essay and academic articles in the, and that's the point in, in, in the first phase, this AI friend will answer questions the students have about academic writing. Read their work and provide helpful feedback, help them learn what went wrong and how to read correctly. Offer guidance instead of something like hacks. And most importantly, don't do the work for them. This AI doesn't attempt to be omniscient. Omniscient if it doesn't. Know a response. It won't guess. Instead, it flags it. That a human academic admin okay, can step it, teach the correct answer to this AI friend and teach the AI and this ai friend. Learn it in time, this AI friend will become better than the past. It will become more intelligent and it'll begin to customize the guidance based on each student's university and in the future, maybe even based on the specific expectations of individual professors. And imagine that's, let's, okay. Imagine that. A deeply knowledgeable, always available ethical academic guide. Who knows your background, your challenges, your goals, and is there to support you, not replacing you. Yeah, we're not just building a tool. We are building trust, accountability and growth. We are not just implementing AI in education. We are fortifying education with ai. And if we do it correctly, we'll create a generation of learners who don't just know how to write, but know to how, and much know how to think, how to question, how to ask a question, how to ask a question correctly, and how to innovate. Okay with AI as a facilitator. Facilitator, not an aid with AI as a facilitator, not an eight. And this regional responsible empowering AI in education isn't just theoretical. It's something we've started working on. We are building a platform. Called estimate an academic support system where the students are not just user users of ai, but collaborators in their own learning process. The idea is a simple but powerful. Every student is paired with AI companion one they can name, talk, and grow with. Not a tool to perform their work for them, but a guide to help them learn to do it for themselves in its initial phase, asking addresses academic writing it reads students drafts, offers constructive feedbacks, detects weaknesses and offers. So many suggestions always based on peda geological principles and never replacing the student's voice. What is the difference between anate with all of the other ais? What makes Ased unique is the manner in which it learns. It's not merely trained, but on the base data or something like that, or search on the internet or learning from the internet, but under human supervision by specialists in higher studies and scholarly writing. If the AI hesitates on a question, it doesn't provide a placeholder answer. No, not like other ais. It flags the issue. And a human admin a step in not merely to response correctly, V, but to teach the AI how to respond in the future. This creates creates a model in which the system grows. Over the time, ethically, rightly, and in the line with real academic expectations, that's the point. That's the right thing that universities, or colleges or schools wants, or professor wants or lecturer wants. The ultimate vision is even broader estimate comes of age with the students. It'll eventually be capable of recognizing institutional context, understanding how expectations can differ between universities or even between specific structures and beyond beyond the academy. It'll support the students through daily challenges, finding housing, navigating administrative procedures. Adjusting to life abroad. The hope is not perfection. It's continually growth and trust. Estimate isn't being built to be the solution to all things. It's being built to be a responsible. A responsible alley in a more complex educational landscape, helping a student not by doing the work for them, but by accompanying upon accompanying them this is one way we believe AI can actually make a difference in education, not by replacing the work of students or teachers, but. By amplifying what makes them human this isn't just a tool for students. We are building estimate with the clear intention of working alongside university, not around them. Our goal is to create a system that academics, institutions can trust. A system that encourages responsible A IU. Which the university like that with the colleges like that, which the schools like that with the professors and academic staff likes that. We believe that if we do it, do this correctly, universities won't just adopt this AI friend. They'll embrace it because it's in line with their purpose. It honors the. Standards and it makes their students more resilient. That's the future we are working toward one where technology and academia aren't at art, but in collaboration. Yes, that's the point. Thank you very much for your attention, for your kind attention and hope to sue all of you guys in estimate and. Change the future of learning, future of education in education technology. Thank you very much.
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Vahid Mohammadi

Founder @ Universitio

Vahid Mohammadi's LinkedIn account



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