'Exact same cover letters word for word': Career consultant says Gen Z are misusing AI

Gen Z are digital natives and have quickly adopted AI, using it for everything from assignment research to planning holidays.

But, it seems, they've been making mistakes along the way.

Shoshana Davis, a Gen Z career expert and founder of the career consultancy Fairy Job Mother, told CNBC Make It in an interview that the generation (generally defined as those born between 1996 and 2012) have become too reliant on AI tools like ChatGPT to generate cover letters and job application answers.

"So I speak to businesses and employers who hire anything from like 10 to 1000s of Gen Z every year," Davis said. "And one of the main challenges that I'm seeing at the moment is the use of AI, specifically ChatGPT, and it's not being used in the right way, and it's not being used effectively."

Davis explained that "employers are getting hundreds of the exact same cover letters word for word," or answers to job application questions that are the same, and suspect that ChatGPT use is in play.

In fact, 45% of job seekers have used AI to build, update, or improve their resume, a Canva survey published in January of 5,000 hiring managers and 5,000 job seekers from the U.K., U.S., India, Germany, Spain, France, Mexico and Brazil found.

And it appears that Gen Z is leaning the most on AI, according to a February Grammarly survey of 1,002 knowledge workers and 253 business leaders. It reported that 61% of Gen Z said they can't imagine doing work tasks without using generative AI ­— the most out of any of the generations.

Davis said that we should definitely "embrace technology and AI" but said copying answers from ChatGPT can hurt your chances of getting a job.

A Resume Genius survey of 625 hiring managers found that over half disliked AI-generated