Can ChatGPT write my cover letter — and is it OK to use AI for one?
Yes, a ChatGPT cover letter works — as a draft. Paste in the job advert and a few notes about yourself and you get a structured letter, usually 3 to 5 paragraphs, which is the length the UK's National Careers Service describes for a cover letter (National Careers Service). What you cannot do is send it unchanged: OpenAI's own help centre says ChatGPT can produce incorrect or misleading output and may sound confident even when it's wrong (OpenAI). So the honest answer to "is it OK" is yes for drafting, no for outsourcing the facts.
Tools that work
For a ChatGPT cover letter you mainly need strong text generation, and all four general assistants below have a free tier that is usually enough for a handful of letters. Prices and limits change, so check the current plan on the tool's site before you pay.
| Tool | Free tier | Paid tiers quoted by the provider |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | Free plan includes unlimited text chats, with limited messages with uploads, limited image creation, limited voice, limited deep research and limited memory (ChatGPT pricing) | Plus at $20/month (billed monthly); Go is a lower-cost tier with higher limits than Free for image generation, file uploads and data analysis (ChatGPT Plus, ChatGPT Go) |
| Claude | Free at $0: chat on web, desktop and mobile, web search, file creation, code execution, memory and Artifacts (Claude pricing) | Pro at $17/month with the annual discount ($200 billed up front) or $20 if billed monthly; Max starts from $100/month; prices exclude tax (Claude pricing) |
| Gemini | Gemini app free at $0/month with a Google Account (Gemini subscriptions) | Google AI Plus at $4.99/month; Google AI Pro at $19.99/month with 4x higher usage access than Free, plus Gemini in Gmail, Docs and more and 5 TB storage. Prices differ by country — the Australian page shows AUD (Gemini subscriptions) |
| Microsoft Copilot | A limited free version, subject to available capacity and limits (Copilot pricing) | Microsoft 365 Personal at $9.99/month and Family at $12.99/month include Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook with higher usage than free; Premium at $19.99/month. US prices; in Family, AI is for the subscription owner only (Copilot pricing) |
Is free usually enough? For letters, generally yes: a cover letter is text, and ChatGPT's Free plan includes unlimited text chats. The limits that bite are around uploads — Free users are limited to 3 file uploads per day, while users generally can upload up to 80 files every 3 hours, with 512MB per file and 2M tokens per text or document file (File Uploads FAQ). Claude accepts up to 20 files per chat at up to 500MB each, including PDF, DOCX, TXT and CSV, with XLSX needing code execution enabled (Upload files to Claude).
Two things to know before you paste a CV into any of them. In ChatGPT you can stop new conversations being used to train OpenAI models by turning off "Improve the model for everyone" under Settings > Data controls; chats still remain in your history, and temporary chats are not used to improve models (Data controls in ChatGPT). And each provider tells you to verify output: Anthropic says users should not rely on Claude as a singular source of truth (Claude help), Google advises double-checking responses and not relying on them for professional advice (Gemini Apps help), and Microsoft says Copilot can make mistakes or produce inaccurate results and that you should review and verify what it creates (Microsoft Support).
A prompt to paste
Replace everything in [square brackets] with your own material. The last line is the one that matters most: it tells the model to flag gaps instead of filling them.
You are helping me draft a cover letter. I will give you the job advert and notes about me.
Job advert:
[PASTE THE FULL ADVERT TEXT]
About me:
- Current or most recent role: [ROLE]
- Years of experience: [NUMBER]
- Two or three achievements that match this job: [ACHIEVEMENT 1], [ACHIEVEMENT 2], [ACHIEVEMENT 3]
- Why I want this job and this company: [ONE OR TWO SENTENCES]
- How I found the job: [WHERE, plus any reference number]
- Who to address it to: [NAME AND JOB TITLE] — if I don't know, use "Dear [TEAM NAME] team"
Write the letter in 3 to 5 paragraphs:
1. Who I am, the job title and any reference number, and where I found the role.
2. The skills and experience that match what the employer asks for, each backed by one fact from my notes.
3. Why this company, a pointer to my CV for more detail, and my contact details.
Use the employer's own keywords from the advert. Professional but plain tone, no clichés and no exclamation marks.
Do not invent employers, dates, qualifications, job titles or numbers. If something I need is not in my notes, write [CHECK: ...] instead of guessing.
Two follow-ups worth running:
- "Cut this to [NUMBER] words and delete any sentence that isn't backed by my notes or the advert."
- "Here is my CV: [PASTE CV TEXT]. List every claim in the letter that my CV or notes do not support."
How far AI gets you
AI drafts, you finish. The model is good at structure, length and phrasing, and bad at the two things a cover letter is judged on: whether the claims about you are true, and whether the letter shows real research on this specific employer.
What you still do
- Check every fact against your own records. If the letter mentions a degree, note that in the UK employers can check a candidate's degree details — place of study, award, grade, dates — through Hedd, the UK's official degree verification hub, with the individual's consent (Hedd).
- Write a new letter for every job, tailored to the company and the specific role (National Careers Service).
- Try to address it to a named person, and check their name, preferred title and job title (National Careers Service).
- Introduce yourself, say how you found the job including the job title and any reference number, and highlight the skills and experience that match what the employer is looking for (National Careers Service).
- Show you researched the company, keep the tone professional, and match the keywords the employer used in the advert (National Careers Service).
- Back up statements with facts, then check spelling and grammar before sending (National Careers Service).
- Thank the employer, point them to your CV for detail, and make sure your contact details are correct on both documents (National Careers Service).
- Keep a copy of what you sent — employers may ask you about it in an interview (National Careers Service).
- Use the official source when the claim has consequences: the employer's own advert and application instructions for what to submit, the awarding body or Hedd for qualification wording, and official guidance plus a qualified professional for anything legal or contractual, such as right-to-work or registration requirements. An AI answer is not a source for those.
Common questions
Is it OK to use AI for a cover letter?
Using it to draft is common and generally accepted; sending a letter that misstates your history is not. The test is simple: the letter has to be accurate about you and sound like you wrote it. Employers can check claims — in the UK, degree details can be verified through Hedd with your consent (Hedd) — and interviewers may ask you about what you sent.
Do I need a paid plan?
Usually not for letters. ChatGPT's Free plan includes unlimited text chats, which is all a letter needs; paid tiers such as Plus at $20/month buy higher limits and more access (ChatGPT pricing, ChatGPT Plus). Plans and prices can change, so check the tool's site.
Should I tell the employer I used AI?
The official guidance cited here doesn't require disclosure; what it does require is a tailored, accurate letter (National Careers Service). If the employer's own application instructions say anything about AI tools, follow them.