I work in university admissions and the programs require a motivation letter. While absolutely hating writing Cover letters or motivations myself, I do see the advantages for admission (although I absolutely hate the system).

Mainly it is a great way to give applicants with weaker grades a shot. And a good motivation letter where I get a feeling for who they are will put them almost always automatically higher in my recommendations. However, I am so sick of the same ChatGPT motivation. And it is always the same. Oh you honed your ability to do this? Your drawn because of that? I have read your letter 50 times before. And I don’t mean the contents. Let’s be real, most do not have an inspiring story about why they want to study, and that is okay, the program sounding good is a perfectly valid reason. But show me who you are (or what you want me to think who you are). I really developed an adverse reaction to these AI letters. I hate them because I know I’m reading a robots “thoughts”. By all means use the tools available to polish but don’t polish out your personality.

This will lead to motivation letters being abolished. And while for most people that’s great and a CV should speak for itself it will remove chances to get into a prestigious program for people who are not perfect or had the luck to grow up rich.