"I used to get really good cover letters, and be like, 'oh, I should really talk to this person, and prioritize those people,'" Kessler says. "And now I don't." Unlike recruiters sorting through standardized applications, Kessler has historically relied on direct emails from students to spot standout candidates. The problem, he says, is that AI has made it too easy to generate polished, hyper-personalized cover letters in seconds — each of them festooned with winsome references to his academic