ChatGPT’s Use In School Email After Shooting Angers Coeds

College administrators use ChatGPT to write a message on the importance of community, following deadly campus shooting in Michigan

Virginia Van Natta

18 Feb 2023, 04:30 PM IST

<div class="paragraphs"><p>A woman holds a candle during a candlelight vigil to remember victims of a shooting at Michigan State University on February 16, 2023 at Dupont Circle, Washington, DC. On February 13, a gunman opened fire on the campus, killing students Alexandria Verner, Brian Fraser and Arielle Anderson and critically wounding five others. The gunman shot himself a short time later after a confrontation with police. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)</p></div>

A woman holds a candle during a candlelight vigil to remember victims of a shooting at Michigan State University on February 16, 2023 at Dupont Circle, Washington, DC. On February 13, a gunman opened fire on the campus, killing students Alexandria Verner, Brian Fraser and Arielle Anderson and critically wounding five others. The gunman shot himself a short time later after a confrontation with police. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

(Bloomberg) -- Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College is facing growing anger after administrators used ChatGPT to write a message about the importance of community following a deadly campus shooting in Michigan.

The Nashville, Tennessee-based school’s Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion said in a Feb. 16 email that “creating a safe and inclusive environment is an ongoing process that requires ongoing effort and commitment.” A line at the bottom of the five-paragraph email said it had been paraphrased using ChatGPT, an AI text generator.

The email was sent in response to a shooting earlier this week, when a gunman killed three people and injured five others at Michigan State University’s campus in East Lansing on Monday night. The suspect was later found dead after apparently taking his own life. There have been 73 mass shootings in the US this year, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive.

A vigil on the campus of Michigan State University following Monday’s shooting in East Lansing, Michigan, on Feb. 15. Photographer: Scott Olson/Getty Images

OpenAI, the artificial-intelligence research company behind the popular ChatGPT chatbot, has recently come under fire for biases, inaccuracies and inappropriate behavior. The controversial tool has sparked a fierce debate over the ethics and implications of its use in a wide variety of situations.

Freshman Martha Chessen took particular umbrage at the use of ChatGPT to write an email about gun violence.

“It’s almost as if Vanderbilt sent the email merely out of obligation, rather than a genuine care for the needs of its community,” she said. “I’m disappointed in Vanderbilt’s lack of empathy toward those suffering from the tragedy.”

Laith Kayat, a Vanderbilt senior from Michigan, was quoted by Vanderbilt University’s student newspaper, The Vanderbilt Hustler: “There is a sick and twisted irony to making a computer write your message about community and togetherness because you can’t be bothered to reflect on it yourself.”

Nicole Joseph, associate dean for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, apologized for showing poor judgment in using the AI technology.

“Using ChatGPT to generate communications on behalf of our community in a time of sorrow and in response to a tragedy contradicts the values that characterize Peabody College,” Joseph said in an email. “Open-source AI platforms are novel technologies, and we are all still learning about the power of their capabilities as well as their limits.”

(Adds comment from the university in paragraphs eight and nine.)

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