Have any of you noticed that the applications you are receiving have been written by AI? I understand how much time this saves for people, but it makes it hard to sense any kind of personality from reading and I prefer to weed out people who I know won’t be right for my very shy cat before scheduling video interviews. I’m curious if this is a problem for anyone else. I live in Mexico and get a lot of applications for sits but now they all read almost exactly the same. Any insights to this new problem would be valuable.
I am a sitter and I agree with you about AI. It’s sad that we are getting away from using our own brains and yes you can’t really get a sense of who the person is. If the profile has good reviews you then you just have to rely on a video call as they can’t hide behind the computer.
That must be very frustrating, especially if you are in a popular location and you keep having to decline people for this or other reasons, and then you just keep getting more of the same. As a sitter reading listings, it is definitely a great way to get a sense of the host, so I can appreciate the importance you place on this.
If this is a regular issue for you-and it sounds like it is-- you might consider putting something in your listing stating that you rely on the applications to get a feel for the applicant, and you will not consider ones generated with AI. These first impressions are important for both sides, and I don’t think it is unreasonable to make such a request. And for sitters who rely on using it for their applications, this just isn’t the right opportunity.
Of course, if you did not feel comfortable doing that, like someone else said, the only thing to do is rely on the reviews and then see how things play out when you connect one-on-one. And as for sitters with no reviews who submit such applications, you can decide to decline them outright–as a host in a popular location, you may have an easier time doing that.
As someone who tends to send application messages that are on the shorter side, I would have no use for AI and would not use it even if I tended towards longer ones. I can only imagine how impersonal, dry and ‘mechanical’ the writing seems.
I have never used AI to write my application letter. Just for curiosity, I entered a recent application on Chat, to see what it would do. It seemed to make my application warmer and friendlier! So maybe it depends on the input.
Most People will type, write me an application email for this listing… You will end up with generic crap.
On the other hand if you get the AI to interview you to why you would be best suited to the house sit, maybe 5 questions, then it will write a really great application.
I write all of my own stuff, but have tried running it through AI, just to see what it would do. Where it’s warmer and friendlier, it’s not been authentic to me, so nope.
And AI can sound formal, stilted and odd, or it can sound conversational and smooth — it depends on how you prompt it. When you can tell it’s AI, it’s because the person doesn’t know how to prompt well.
@RaleighCat, great observation and totally understandable. We have never used AI in THS applications. Or THS Forum - though accused earlier this year! Few folks over multiple decades suggested write like a lawyer (not), and probably worse .
We also see huge differences in writing style, content and length in listings and welcome guides. So guess there’s different communication styles for both pet parents and housesitters.
During housesits, my spouse and I alternate primary comms person depending on the pet parent personality - spouse chatty people-person, myself more concise or structured. All good, just different.
Suggest talk to great applicants. If AI was significantly used in application, should quickly become evident.
With due respect. While I know that there is a lot of push back against AI, If a sitter was very familiar with AI and appropriate prompts, it’s unlikely you would pick it.
I know where it is on laptop, but I almost always use iPads or iPhones, so I put the m dash on a shortcut key combo — two letters and an m dash spits out. Of course, some people automatically associate m dashes with AI.
We can understand someone using AI in listings or applications. There’s some THS Forum threads that have used AI to help someone write a difficult review, especially if English not their first language.
But what would be the motivation in an anonymous forum?
I find that very sad. I’m a senior who had the nuns teach me writing skills and grammar and always pride myself on my writing skills. I would never use AI to submit an application. I also find it pathetic that people are using AI to create their resumes and may arrive at a job interview not knowing how to answer interview questions that AI haven’t coached them on.
@Globetrotter, spot on.
Last week my adult child jokingly made fun of me, bless, for using email (rather than WhatsApp, …) and for complete sentences. Rascal. Guess it’s the era of the soundbite.
In reality, AI is just highlighting lazy people. People who work, who want to learn, who want to achieve something know how to use it. Others are just doing what they would be doing 5-10 years go.
In seo everyone talks about AI slop, but before Ai slop there was just human written slop and the Ai simply trained on that slop. Most people are lazy
As sitters, we can understand both sides of this. We’ve used AI to help us with all sorts of things, so we don’t see using it to help with an application as necessarily being a problem.
For us, though, we’d still want the finished application to sound like us. We use AI to help us get our thoughts together or polish the wording, but the experiences, reasons for applying and things we want to say are ours.
When we apply for a sit, we try to make sure the host can see that we’ve actually read their listing and that we’re genuinely interested in their particular pets, home and circumstances. We wouldn’t want an application that could have been sent to any host.
And ultimately, we think the application is only the beginning. A video call or conversation tells a host far more about who we are than whether we wrote every sentence completely unaided.
For us, AI is simply another tool, rather like spellcheck. What matters is that the finished application still feels genuine and sounds like the people the host is actually going to meet.
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