ChatGPT and language models based on artificial intelligence are the latest technology sensation. Their ability to generate blocks of text by simply describing or indicating certain parameters has shown that their uses can be totally varied. However, this does not mean that all the ways to use these chatbots will be the right ones, and a U.S. university has become the perfect example.
As reported by Los Angeles Times and other local media, the Vanderbilt Universitylocated in Nashville, issued an email to its students following a mass shooting that occurred in Michigan last week, a tragic event in which 3 were killed and 5 injured. This is a fairly common procedure in these situations as a message is usually sent to students to comfort them and build community. However, one detail of this text infuriated and that is that it was generated with ChatGPT.
A scandal involving ChatGPT
The message disseminated to students by the university administration contained a snippet generated by ChatGPT: “In the wake of the shootings in MichiganLet’s come together as a community to reaffirm our commitment to care for one another and promote a culture of inclusion on our campus.”. The student body noticed this detail because the mailing included a mention that their text had been created with AI.
The students were dismayed 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. Moreover, the student body felt that it was not even necessary to use the IA in this case.
The University’s apology
Once the scandal had been generated, the administrators of the Vanderbilt University issued an apology acknowledging that the use of ChatGPT to reassure others after a tragedy was “bad judgment”. “As with all new technologies affecting higher education, this moment gives us all an opportunity to reflect on what we know and what we have yet to learn about AI.”he said. Nicole JosephAssociate Dean of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at the university.
However, the university’s response has not entirely convinced the students and that is why, as reported by the website Vicethe institution decided that ChatGPT will only be used exclusively in already designated processes that require the chatbot with artificial intelligence from OpenAI.
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