Public comms are always a charade. In fact I’d go so far as to say I think communication in general is just a game where you try to say the right thing and cre

Public comms are always a charade. In fact I’d go so far as to say I think communication in general is just a game where you try to say the right thing and create the right impression. Expecting “genuine feeling” from other people, much less from a public statement, is a big misunderstanding of how social interaction works. The dean who wrote this message doesn’t care about the students. She doesn’t know them. She’s fulfilling a role where she acts as a figurehead that students can project feelings of compassion onto. Like any other job, this one also involves some degree of drudgery, such as writing emails like this. It’s good that ChatGPT can make her life easier by automating that task. Her actual fault was accidentally admitting to it and ruining her image as a figurehead, which is her actual job. But if you’re looking for a referendum on the dangers of ChatGPT on society or something, this story isn’t it.