Congrats again to Anne Hathaway, who announced over the weekend that she’s expecting baby #3 with husband Adam Shulman! Plus a big bravo to her style team because she didn’t look pregnant at all during her Mother Mary and Devil Wears Prada 2 promotional tours — or the Met Gala! — and it’s not like she was wearing sack dresses the whole time. Anne’s two sons are older, 10 and six, so somewhat more independent. But it still takes a village, and I wonder if she’s already on the hunt for a nanny. We know she was interviewing for a job of some kind recently, thanks to a video from the DWP 2 press that’s resurfacing. Anne appeared on Hit Radio, alongside costars Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt, and detailed how she received thank you notes from candidates… that turned out to be written by AI because they all had the exact same wording. Next!
Anne Hathaway has a warning for anyone using ChatGPT to help write their job application thank you notes: She can tell.
In the age of AI, it’s never been easier to apply for thousands of roles at once. But as the Oscar-winning actress revealed while hiring for a recent role, it’s never been easier to get caught, either.
“I was in the process of hiring someone; they were all very nice candidates, and they all sent me thank you notes,” the Devil Wears Prada star recalled in an interview with Hits Radio, before adding that every single one was written by AI.
How could she tell? “They were all the exact same thank you note,” Hathaway said.
When the first one came in, she thought, “How nice, how professional.” But when others landed in her inbox, word-for-word identical to the first, the penny dropped fast.
“I was like, ‘Oh, no … I see something I’m not supposed to see,’” Hathaway added. “So I just want to warn you: If you’re out there thinking that you’re getting away with something, there’s a chance that you might be revealing yourself.”
And while she was able to see the funny side, her costar Meryl Streep, who also sat in on the interview, voiced exactly what bosses in that scenario may be thinking.
“So many Anne Hathaways that you’re going to apply to—you just can’t write it yourself,” Streep rolled her eyes. Indeed, a few minutes of effort really could be the difference between getting the job and getting ghosted. And when it’s a rare once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, as Streep pointed out, the lack of effort doesn’t go unnoticed.
“Oh, my God, that would be an absolute killer,” she added. “Nobody on that list gets that job.”
Meryl and Emily were both appalled; not surprised by Emily’s reaction, as she’s been vocal with her anti-AI sentiments, but I’m glad to see Meryl weigh in on the side of humans. I love her sarcastic, “So many Anne Hathaways that you’re going to apply to,” lol! I don’t think Meryl was being snobby, either, like “A celeb is so important you should write the letter yourself!” Personally, I think a thank you note (or, you know, ANY kind of writing) should always be written by humans. If it’s a job you want, you should be excited enough to write your own thank you. Now, do I have a standby template for cover letters and thank you notes? Yes, of course. But then I revise and play with it so it’s tailored to the specific job I’m applying to! Not to mention, I wrote that original template myself to begin with!! And it’s not just about the content, but I imagine Anne thought, “If they’re already passing off this task to AI, what else are they gonna skimp on?”
Then again, not every office (home or otherwise) is opposed to delegating work to AI. I mentioned before my boss describing how he relies on AI to “read” proposals for him and spit out summaries. The other day a couple partners were discussing a report — for one of their biggest clients, mind you — and I heard one of them say, “Well did you ask ChatGPT?” and I facepalmed. The day AI can make a decent pot of office coffee, call me. Until then, can we please champion humans knowing/learning how to do things? As Meryl says in the clip, “Don’t let the human get away, girls! The future’s female, you better hold on.”
Photos credit: IMAGO/RW/Avalon, Cat Morley/Avalon, ASPN/Backgrid, James Warren/Bang Showbiz/Avalon
It’s interesting that the default judgement on this is that the job candidates were skimping rather than that they have self doubt and want to put their best foot forward. Seems like it backfired, but my impression was this is an example of people using AI to promote themselves in the best way possible.
I think you’re missing that the notes were IDENTICAL. This isn’t a case of someone using ai to help them improve their correspondence, but using it to write the whole thing without any personalising at all.
ChatGPT is inherently disrespectful. Why should anyone bother to read what you can’t be bothered to write?
If someone thinks that using AI to write a thank you note is “putting their best foot forward” then they’ve displayed very poor judgement. Putting your trust and your career in the hands of canned generic slop is ridiculous.
As an Executive Assistant & a victim of DECADES of trickle-down economics 🤬 where I often had to do ENDLESS resumes…I to would use templates IF I needed a catalyst at to kickstart communications as a time reliever but that was only after years of crafting my own documents pre internet…I’ve always used tools & technology to assist me but to let AI write a whole ass document for me? My ego & common sense wouldn’t stand for it ESPECIALLY when I know MILLIONS are pulling from the same sources!
I have a resume template that I customize (by hand TYVM) and I write an original cover letter every time.
I agree with Anne and Meryl that it’s lazy.
Here’s the scary thing. I was job hunting last year and personally writing thank you notes after every interview when a friend suggested I just use chatgpt to do it. Do you know that the thank you note Chatgpt composed was almost identical to the ones I had written myself? It was just ever so slightly different, but basically pretty much the same. I start with a basic template and then customize to add in things from the conversation during the interview, but my basic generic template is almost identical to what Chatgpt spat out.
The irony is that where I work now, there’s a push for us to use AI as much as possible to streamline our workflow.
My employer is doing the same – BIG TIME. And, quite frankly, people who refuse to incorporate AI at work will ultimately be left behind.
It’s been incredibly useful, especially for tedious, time consuming tasks. It frees up time and mental space for the more complicated work tasks.
My job is to teach college students to think critically. GenAI can’t replace that, and yet I see the students try – again and again – to have AI do their work for them: to write their assignments, summarize their readings, answer their study guide questions, or anything else they should be able to do with even just a little effort.
The result is a serious decline in their ability to think critically or for themselves, to evaluate sources, to work hard at something for a sustained period of time, or even just to write a full paragraph on their own (I’m shocked by how many seniors in my nationally-ranked university don’t know how to tell when they’ve written a sentence fragment, rather than a full sentence).
And the result of that?
A country where a convicted sexual assaulter, real estate reality star who has run almost all his businesses into bankruptcy is the president.
If you don’t think the dumbing down of our nation is not directly responsible for the mess we are in as a country, you’re fooling yourself. And the ubiquity of AI has absolutely sped that dumbing down up.
Due to the inherent nature of hallucinations with genAI, every genAI implementation requires “human in the loop” to oversee and ensure a quality outcome. However there are numerous studies out there showing the cognitive atrophy in our brains that comes (and quickly) from relying on genAI. I’ve read enough dystopian science fiction to know this doesn’t end well for human beings.
And for all the employers pushing genAI today, all that genAI slop is going to cost boatloads more money in 12 months (if the companies are still in business) because none of the genAI companies are economic they are losing so much money right now and that’s not even considering the environmental or intellectual property costs that aren’t even considered now.
Also a thank you note is a relational touchpoint. Using genAI with zero human touch couldn’t be more transactional.
I agree with Meryl. “Don’t let the human get away.”
I work for a company that gives out “top 100” type awards for various categories throughout the year. I’ve managed entries for about 5 years, and this year they have started coming in with about half of them written by AI. Identical entries, entries using the same 6 or 7 word phrasings, identical jargon. Like, go ahead and write something up and run it through AI (if you have to, which you don’t) to polish it up, but don’t just prompt ChatGPT with “What makes someone/something the best XYZ?” and then C&P that into a form, because thousands of other people are doing that same thing. Now I’m writing some “don’t rely on AI” phrasing for the next rounds.
Hey, at least she got a thank you note. I’m still waiting for one for a wedding present and a bridal shower for a friend’s daughter.
Ouch, that cover photo! My own face hurts just looking at it.
We’re going to see so much of this going forward. I’ve seen people saying they used AI to write their dating profile. You can’t write a few sentences about yourself???
I think there are some good uses for it, but basic things grown adults should be able to do, like a simple thank you note, are not worth the resources AI uses. And last week I googled 2 different things, and both times the AI answer was incorrect.
I’m not surprised.
I haven’t had identical answers from AI but I can tell when my students are using AI for their writing. If they wrote with that perfect spelling, grammar, and structure, they wouldn’t be grade 9-12 students. They would be nearing graduation from college or professional writers or editors.
I have told them to please stop using AI and have had them rewrite their work without their AI copy. I tell them if they researched and wrote this work, they will remember a lot of it. If they cut and pasted, that will quickly become apparent.