Staff at Nashville-based Vanderbilt University have issued an apology after a team used OpenAI's ChatGPT to generate text in an email about the recent fatal shooting at Michigan State University.
The email drew criticism from students and faculty, who said they thought the use of AI to write a message about a tragedy was inconsiderate and hollow.
The email, sent by staff at Vanderbilt's Peabody College Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, was meant to encourage people to come together following the Feb. 13 shooting that resulted in the deaths of three MSU students.
- At the bottom of the email were the words "Paraphrase from OpenAI's ChatGPT AI language model."
- A day after it was sent, an associate dean at the office sent a follow-up email apologizing for the "error in judgment."
- Vanderbilt Peabody officials have now pledged to do a full review of the events leading up to the ChatGPT email.
- The associate dean and an assistant have also stepped back from their responsibilities at the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion office.
