The buzz around artificial intelligence (AI) is not dousing soon, and academics must join in or be left behind.

At the University of Media, Arts and Communication (UniMAC), lecturers have been encouraged to adopt AI technologies for research and student engagement to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of academic tasks.

Mr Alvin Cudjoe, a trainer at Alx threw this challenge to lecturers when he led a webinar – fundamentals to AI for Academics on Friday, April 5, 2024.

Mr Alvin Cudjoe explained that academics can employ AI technologies to enhance teaching, research and publication, academic administration, and student engagement.

In research, academics can use AI to analyze large datasets, identify patterns and make predictions. AI-enabled systems can also assist academics in conducting literature searches, paraphrasing, reference management and plagiarism detection.

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems have the potential to revolutionize education by enabling student involvement through chatbots and virtual assistants, offering adaptive learning opportunities, and automating grading.

Administrative duties like scheduling, resource allocation, student admissions, and institutional decision-making processes can also be made more efficient with the help of AI technologies.

Given the immense benefits of AI in academia, Mr Cudjoe encouraged lecturers to upskill and take advantage of AI tools such as Python, R programming, Jupyter Notebook, Tensor board and IBM Watson studio for academic tasks. The lecturers in attendance were open to adopting AI technologies.

They used the opportunity to discuss the ethical implications of AI technologies, including issues related to bias, fairness, transparency, accountability, and societal impacts of digitalization.

The webinar is part of a series of virtual trainings organized by UniMAC’s Directorate of Research Innovation and Development (DRID). The programme was attended by lecturers across UniMAC’s three Institutes: the Institute of Journalism, the Institute of Film and Technology and the Institute of Languages.