NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Officials with Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development are apologizing after the college’s office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion sent out a message to students using artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT.

Camilla P. Benbow, the Patricia and Rodes Hart Dean of Education and Human Development for Vanderbilt Peabody, issued a formal apology on the school’s website to the Peabody community for the email, which was distributed Feb. 16. The email, Benbow said, encouraged Peabody faculty, students and staff to “come together as a community to reaffirm our commitment to caring for one another in the wake of the shooting at Michigan State University” last week. It also included language that indicated it was “a paraphrased version of a communication drafted using Open AI’s ChatGPT,” Benbow said in the statement.

The next day, Benbow said, the Associate Dean for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Nicole M. Joseph, sent a follow-up email apologizing for her office’s “error in judgment” in using ChatGPT for an email “intended to reflect on a tragedy.”

“The development and distribution of the initial email did not follow Peabody’s normal processes providing for multiple layers of review before being sent,” Benbow said in her statement. “The university’s administrators, including myself, were unaware of the email before it was sent.”

Benbow’s office will now “conduct a complete review of the sequence of events that led to sending the original email,” she said. During this time, Joseph and Assistant Dean Hasina Mohyuddin will “step back from their responsibilities with the EDI office.”

“As dean of the college, I remain personally saddened by the loss of life and injuries at Michigan State, which I know have affected members of our own community,” she said in closing. “I am also deeply trouble that a communication from my administration so missed the crucial need for personal connection and empathy during a time of tragedy. I intend that we shall redouble our efforts to express the values that animate our mission and lead to human flourishing. And I offer my heartfelt apologies to all those who deserved better from us and did not receive it.”