Do androids dream of electric job applications?
Whether generating digital content via AI for yourself or your company, the same pitfalls apply. Avoid them to avoid damage to yourself or your brand.
Robert Stribley
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Published in
UX Collective
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5 min read
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3 days ago
Full disclosure: This image of a robot considering a job application was generated via a MidJourney prompt by Robert Stribley
OK, that headline is a stretch, but I do enjoy dropping a Blade Runner reference. What we’re really talking about here, of course, is online content and the growing use of generative AI to create it. First, an anecdote.
The other day, I saw this prompt within a section of a job application online:
Considering the details in the job description, could you share what makes you the right fit for this role? Pro tip: Avoid using AI-generated responses to prevent repetitive answers that may match other candidates.
Good news for those of us engaged in a job hunt then: Seems applying some genuine creativity to your applications may still give you an edge.
Nonetheless, this facet of our evolving generative AI landscape captured my imagination, so I posted about it on LinkedIn and that prompted a productive conversation about using tools like ChatGPT to create content either as an individual or as an organization.
Using ChatGPT to write your resume, cover letter or to address individual questions asked by a company could quickly prove problematic. That’s especially if ChatGPT’s output suggests you lie about your experience or includes other inaccuracies, which go unnoticed and unedited. Anyone using ChatGPT in either context, of course, should be prepared to 1) confirm the output’s accuracy and 2) massage/rewrite it for tone, completeness, brand alignment, etcetera.
As for companies, the value of this new content, for now, depends greatly on the presence and quality of any editorial oversight. Otherwise, willy-nilly use of AI generated content risks undermining your brand. There are already plenty of well-publicized examples of brands going awry with their use of AI-produced content, but I can offer an anecdote I heard first-hand of a smallish NYC company, which has ditched the copywriter role and is now using AI to incorporate bland, repetitive product descriptions into their site, which even include inaccuracies and spelling errors.
