Need for guidelines to enhance ethical use of Artificial Intelligence in higher education in Tanzania

Abstract

Artificial intelligence is progressing at an astonishing pace, raising profound ethical concerns regarding its use, ownership, accountability, and long-term implications for quality education. This study explores the need for guidelines to inform and maintain ethical use of artificial intelligence in higher education in Tanzania. The study was guided by three objectives that aimed to: examine awareness of the use of artificial intelligence, identify ethical challenges arising from its use, and assess the need to establish guidelines for the ethical use of artificial intelligence in higher education in Tanzania. The study was conducted at fully fledged universities, where quality assurance practitioners were involved in completing a questionnaire, and the Deputy Vice-Chancellors (responsible for Academic Affairs) participated in interviews. Research findings show that the majority of respondents are aware of the use of artificial intelligence in universities. Ethical challenges identified are the existence of biases, lack of integrity, discrimination among users, lack of honesty, violation of confidentiality, reduced transparency, violation of privacy, reduced accountability, and violation of human dignity and rights. The study recommends universities to implement innovative mechanisms to ensure ethical use of artificial intelligence, including capacity-building through training. In this regard, Tanzania Commission for Universities needs to establish overarching guidelines for ethical use of artificial intelligence, and each university needs to establish institutional ethical guidelines for the same purpose.