Students are phoning in mentorships using LLMs now
Either my university's computer science department suddenly increased their writing course requirements by tenfold, or the students are no longer writing their own messages
For the last several years, since I graduated from university, I've participated in their alumni mentor program. Alumni populate their profile with their degree and experiences (usually by importing from LinkedIn), and students can search and reach out to potential mentors that match their interests and career goals. Sometimes the ask is simple, like providing feedback on a resume. Sometimes students want an actual mentor/mentee relationship, and I've been happy to get on video calls to help students set goals and meet them. Whether I've actually been of help to them or not, I can't answer, but everyone always felt genuine and it at least felt like I was helping. And, without them knowing it, they were also helping me keep my finger on the pulse of upcoming technologies.
Lately, though, I've observed a new trend. Students sending me messages are interested in everything and nothing. They ask for insights into as broad of topic as software engineering, and when I ask if there are any specific fields or projects they are interested in, they tell me that yes! they are very interested in engineering! All with perfect grammar as well! (which you won't find in my own writing here)
Now, either my university's computer science department suddenly increased their writing course requirements by tenfold, or the students are no longer writing their own messages. I no longer even know exactly what students are asking help with. Mentees used to come loaded with specific questions about being a software engineer and how to get their foot in the door. I could ask them what they were most interested in, and they'd tell me about mobile development, web design, cybersecurity, even automotive tech, and they'd often start talking about their hobby projects unprompted. But the latest round of mentees have interests so broad, even after I've asked probing questions, that I have no way of giving advice on career goals. Feeding some of their messages into AI detection tools, most are about 70-80% sure (whatever that means) that the messages are AI generated.
What purpose does a mentorship provide students if they aren't writing their own messages? Are they even reading my responses, or just shoving them into an LLM? It's become a waste of time for all of us, and if it continues I'll unfortunately have to give up mentoring through this program.
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