How to explain using AI in applications

[Andrei Radu]

A recurrent question a number of firms have been asking this cycle which applicants have struggled with is: how have you used generative AI when preparing your application to the firm?

To help you write a good answer here, I think it is firstly important to clarify that the "How did you use AI" question does not have a clear right and wrong answer. Instead, it appears the point of the question is for the firm to test your commercial awareness regarding AI tech and to see if you can come up with a well-considered explanation as to what particular usage of AI best fits your working style, goals, and skillset when making your application. Thus, a multitude of different substantive answers could be well-received by a graduate recruiter here, and you should not worry too much if you think you have used AI more restrictively or more expansively than most other applicants.

To give some examples of how different uses of AI could be described well, from least to most expansive:

1. Not using generative AI at all: While many candidates shy away from saying this so as not to appear to have an excessively conservative attitude towards new technology, this is not an unacceptable answer to give if the candidate explains their reasoning and attitude well. To illustrate the lines of thinking the candidate may use, consider: "While I consider generative AI tools to have huge potential benefits in cost-savings and improving the efficiency of work product, and while I would embrace the opportunity to use such tools as a trainee solicitor, I have decided not to use generative AI in the process of applying to commercial law firms. Firstly, this is because going through the process myself develops valuable skills: drafting skills when writing and re-writing answers myself, critical analysis and attention to detail skills when reviewing these answers, and researching skills when trying to understand the firm's work and practices. Secondly, I have chosen this because I believe that expansive use of generative AI could lead to my application losing its personal touch, which would make it more difficult for the firm to truly assess my candidacy. While I appreciate that using generative AI could have enabled me to finish this work quicker, I consider that, overall, the benefits of developing the aforementioned skills and of submitting a tailored application are greater."
2. Using AI tech (such as Grammarly) only to check spelling and grammar: An answer along the same lines could work very well here vis-a-vis why you chose not to use AI for the purposes bellow; but here, you could explain that checking spelling and grammar by using an AI tool first, and only then checking it yourself, enables you to both decrease chances of any errors remaining (as two review tools are better than one) and to decrease the amount of time this task takes you.
3. Using AI tech to find better ways to structure content or to cut word count form your lengthier sections: The same applies here, only you would explain that AI tools are very good at offering suggestions for a clear writing structure and for helping you express your points in a more concise manner. You could add that while you would have perhaps developed these writing skills by struggling with the content on your own, AI accelerates your learning: instead of having to re-invent the wheel, AI can quickly show you patterns of what works and what doesn't, which you then internalise and naturally begin integrating when writing on your own.
4. Using AI for firm research, or for understanding commercial topics: Here, you could again explain that although researching the firm and commercial topics on your own is useful and develops valuable skills, you believe AI enables you to (i) develop the same skills and commercial understanding in a more efficient manner, (ii) allows you to cover a way wider breadth of material in your research, and (iii) by saving you more time, gives you an opportunity to deepen your understanding to a level of detail you would have been unable to otherwise (e.g. you can give examples of discussions with an AI tool about complex financial concepts and structures that would have taken you way too long to research manually).
5. Using AI tech to scrutinise and improve your substantive writing by redrafting your work: Here, you could explain that just as AI can make for a great teaching tool in terms of the structure of your writing and to help with your understanding of commercial topics, it can also help you learn how to improve the substance of your writing. By asking a chatbot to scrutinise your answers, you could quickly learn about problematic patters in parts of your answers such as insufficient specificity or a lack of contextualised evidence to support your claims. Understanding these mistakes early improves your ability to write well thought out answers without having to go through a lengthy trial and error process, which increases your chances of success and also improves the firm's ability to assess your candidacy on its true merits.

As you can see, a wide variety of different substantive answers about use of AI can work - the only potentially straight-up "wrong" answer here would be if one said they had an AI bot write their entire application and/or come up with most of their core substantive points, as firms are interested to see how you generally write and what you think about the topics they are asking about. Save for that, you do not need to construct an answers based on what you would perceive to be an "objectively optimal" response rather than an honest one. Instead, what is key and what I would highly encourage you to do is to be very specific about how exactly you used AI. Beyond explaining your reasoning for a specific usage, as shown, you should try to elaborate on how you have used it; and, the more granular you can be, the better! For example, rather than saying 'I used AI to brainstorm ideas', it would be better to say, 'I used ChatGPT to help me to understand how X's sponsor-led practice would differentiate the firm from a commercial perspective and why this is a factor worth considering when choosing a firm to apply to. This helped me to further confirm my interest in the firm and to better communicate a point I had been thinking about in relation to why X would be different to their competitors.'

 

[boots pharmacy]

Thanks for the incredibly informative post Andrei!