US college faces criticism for ChatGPT's use in email; apologises later

Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee was blasted in a school newspaper after administrators used ChatGPT to write an e-mail about the importance of community regarding the shooting at the Michigan State University (MSU) where a gunman killed three students and wounded five others. According to a report by The Vanderbilt Hustler on Friday (February 17), the Peabody Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) sent an e-mail on Thursday which said, "We must recognise that creating a safe and inclusive environment is an ongoing process that requires ongoing effort and commitment.”

“We must continue to engage in conversations about how we can do better, learn from our mistakes, and work together to build a stronger, more inclusive community,” the mail added. A line at the bottom of this five-paragraph email said it had been paraphrased using ChatGPT, which is an artificial intelligence (AI) text generator.

The body of this email mentioned “Peabody” once and did not use any other Vanderbilt-specific terms. It also referred to multiple recent shootings in Michigan, when only one incident occurred, the Vanderbilt Hustler report on Friday added.

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Laith Kayat, whose younger sister is a student at MSU, said that the EDI office's use of ChatGPT in drafting was disgusting. “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,” Kayat said, and called on Vanderbilt administrators to take more action in preventing gun violence and to be more intentional with these actions.

Jackson Davis, an undergraduate at Peabody, said he was disappointed that the EDI Office allegedly used ChatGPT to write its response to the shooting. “They release milquetoast, mealymouthed statements that really say nothing whenever an issue arises on or off campus with real political and moral stakes,” Davis said.

Amid the mounting criticism, Associate Dean for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Nicole Joseph sent a follow-up apology mail to the Peabody community on Friday. Joseph said that using ChatGPT to write the initial mail was poor judgement.

“While we believe in the message of inclusivity expressed in the email, 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 characterise Peabody College, the apology mail read. The apology said, "As with all new technologies that affect higher education, this moment gives us all an opportunity to reflect on what we know and what we still must learn about AI."

The MSU gunman was identified as 43-year-old Anthony Dwayne McRae killed himself hours after committing the crime. McRae had no connection with the university, and authorities said that they were trying to determine whether mental illness played a role in the rampage, news agency Reuters reported on Thursday.

The authorities also found two pages of notes on McRae that listed two public schools in New Jersey and the names of a warehouse where he worked, a church, and other places where he appears to have felt slighted.

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