Using ChatGPT in email comfort after US shooting angers students | World news

Vanderbilt’s Peabody University was slammed in an article by the school newspaper after administrators used ChatGPT to write a message about the importance of community after the deadly campus shooting in Michigan.

The Nashville, Tennessee-based School of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion said in a February 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 e-mail says that the comment was made using ChatGPT, an AI text generator.

The email was sent in response to the school shooting earlier this week. A shooter killed three people and injured five others on the campus of Michigan State University in East Lansing on Monday night. The suspect was 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.

Freshman Martha Chessen received special attention using ChatGPT to write an email about gun violence.

“It’s almost as if Vanderbilt sent an email out of obligation, instead of genuinely caring for the needs of its community,” he said. “I am saddened by Vanderbilt’s lack of compassion for the victims.”

Laith Kayat, a Vanderbilt senior from Michigan, is one of the students featured in the school’s newspaper, The Vanderbilt Hustler. “There’s an irony and a twist to having a computer write your message about community and integration because you can’t be bothered to think about it yourself,” Kayat told the paper.

OpenAI, the artificial intelligence research company behind the popular ChatGPT chatbot, has recently come under fire for irregularities, inaccuracies and inappropriate behavior.

Vanderbilt did not respond to an after-hours request for comment.

This story was published from a wire company feed without changes to the text. Only the title has changed.