How to Use AI for Cover Letters Without Sounding Like Everyone Else

Career advice on AI-written cover letters typically stops at 'use it as a starting point,' but fails to specify what candidates must add themselves. The core argument is that AI handles structure well but cannot supply the specific numbers, projects, and company-specific reasons that actually persuade recruiters. The real risk of AI-generated letters is not detection — unreliable AI-text detectors are rarely used by hiring teams — but rather sameness, as recruiters easily spot when multiple applications make identical points in identical order. A practical self-test involves highlighting every sentence in a draft that could appear in any other applicant's letter for any other job; a fully AI-generated letter typically comes back almost entirely highlighted. AI is most useful for extracting job-description requirements, reordering existing facts, and cutting filler — as long as the specific, personal details are supplied by the candidate.