Although the institution apologized, several of its students were angry that ChatGPT was used so frivolously in such a sensitive matter.
ChatGPT and AI- based language modelsare the latest sensation when it comes to technology. Its ability to generate text blocks just by describing or indicating certain parameters has shown that its uses can be totally varied.
However, this does not mean that all the ways to use these chatbots will be correct and an American university has become the perfect example.
As reported by the Los Angeles Times and other local media, Vanderbilt University , located in Nashville, issued an email to its students following a mass shooting that occurred in Michigan last week, a tragic event that killed 3 and injured 5. people. This is a fairly common procedure in these situations since a message is usually sent to the students to comfort them and build community. However, one detail of this text angered and that is that it was generated with ChatGPT .
A scandal carried out by ChatGPT
The message released to the students by the university administration contained a snippet generated by ChatGPT : “In the wake of the Michigan shootings , let us come together as a community to reaffirm our commitment to care for each other and promote a culture of inclusion in our campus” . The students noticed this detail because the email included a mention that their text had been created with the AI.
The students were shocked and extremely angry to discover this fact since the university used an automated tool to create a message that is supposed to have humanitarian purposes such as comforting people after such a terrible event as a mass shooting. What’s more, the student body felt that it was not even necessary to use AI in this case.
The apologies of the University
Once the scandal broke, Vanderbilt University administrators issued an apology acknowledging that using ChatGPT to reassure others after a tragedy was “poor judgment.” “As with all new technologies impacting higher education, this moment provides an opportunity for all of us to reflect on what we know and what we still need to learn about AI,” said Nicole Joseph, Associate Dean for Equity , Diversity and Inclusion of the university.
However, the university’s response has not fully convinced the students and that is why, as reported by the Vice portal , the institution decided that ChatGPT will only be used exclusively in already designated processes that require the chatbot with intelligence OpenAI artificial