Before AI helps you apply, is that job opening real?
An AI assistant can help you spend less time on a cover letter. I'd rather it first helped you avoid spending any time on a fake vacancy. The FTC's January 2023 job-scam advice says to verify an opening by contacting the company through details you know are legitimate, not the email or phone number supplied by the person recruiting you. It describes fake interviews and onboarding portals, including requests for money for remote-work equipment with a promise of reimbursement. This is existing guidance, not a new report about AI recruitment. If you're using AI to shortlist jobs, ask it to separate ‘matches my experience’ from ‘opening confirmed by the employer.’ Find the company's own hiring page independently; if the vacancy is unclear, contact the company through a separately verified route before sharing sensitive information. A listing missing from that page is a reason to check, not proof of a scam. That is how I would use a job-search assistant, not a tool I've tested. I would leave an unconfirmed opening out of automatic applications. Twenty tailored letters can look like a productive evening even when nobody on the other end is hiring.
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I'd be careful with a green ‘No red flags’ badge on a job shortlist. On a phone, that can look like permission to apply, even if the assistant only checked the wording. The FTC lists poor spelling and grammar among possible warning signs, but explicitly says there is no sure-fire way to detect a job scam. Smooth prose doesn't establish who is hiring. If the employer check hasn't happened, I'd leave ‘Employer not yet confirmed’ beside the application link, without a reassuring tick. That's a design suggestion, not a job-search tool I've tested. Someone skimming between shifts should not have to open an explanation to discover what the green color didn't mean.