@inproceedings{kondoro-2025-ai,
    title = "{AI} Writing Assistants in Tanzanian Universities: Adoption Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities",
    author = "Kondoro, Alfred Malengo",
    editor = "Padmakumar, Vishakh  and
      Gero, Katy  and
      Wambsganss, Thiemo  and
      Sterman, Sarah  and
      Huang, Ting-Hao  and
      Zhou, David  and
      Chung, John",
    booktitle = "Proceedings of the Fourth Workshop on Intelligent and Interactive Writing Assistants (In2Writing 2025)",
    month = may,
    year = "2025",
    address = "Albuquerque, New Mexico, US",
    publisher = "Association for Computational Linguistics",
    url = "https://preview.aclanthology.org/moar-dois/2025.in2writing-1.4/",
    doi = "10.18653/v1/2025.in2writing-1.4",
    pages = "37--46",
    ISBN = "979-8-89176-239-8",
    abstract = "This study examines the adoption, challenges, and impact of AI writing assistants in Tanzanian universities, with a focus on their role in supporting academic writing, enhancing accessibility, and accommodating low-resource languages such as Swahili. Through a structured survey of 1,005 university students, we analyze AI usage patterns, key barriers to adoption, and the improvements needed to make AI writing assistants more inclusive and effective. Findings reveal that limited Swahili integration, affordability constraints, and ethical concerns hinder AI adoption, disproportionately affecting students in resource-constrained settings. To address these challenges, we propose strategies for adapting AI models to diverse linguistic, academic, and infrastructural contexts, emphasizing Swahili-language support, AI literacy initiatives, and accessibility-focused AI development. By bridging these gaps, this study contributes to the development of AI-driven educational tools that are more equitable, contextually relevant, and effective for students in Tanzania and beyond."
}