Academic: AI-generated recommendation letters have zero signal, replace with 10-min calls
anshulkundaje · x · 2026-11-16
A widely shared take argues that academic recommendation letters have a near-zero signal-to-noise ratio, and generative AI makes them trivially easy to produce — further eroding their value. The author suggests a 10-minute phone call is far more informative than any letter.
An attached image contrasts today's 3-page "top 1%" letters with Darwin's 1851 two-sentence recommendation for Huxley's Natural History chair application, underscoring how bloated modern letters have become. The debate highlights AI's concrete impact on academic evaluation.
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