Professor receives AI-drafted PhD cold email with placeholder brackets left in

alfcnz · x · 2026-11-06

A professor shared a PhD applicant's cold email that left the bracketed placeholder "[one short, genuine line]" in the text — a telltale sign of AI-generated mass templating. His polite response: acknowledge the one genuine line, decline supervision, and avoid calling out the AI use directly. The post sparked discussion about AI misuse in academic outreach.

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