News Summary

• Dumb.co, a startup selling modified flip phones, was looking for interns passionate about being more offline.
• A startling number of cover letters appeared to have been written by AI — or at least sounded like it.
• To bypass the flood of cookie-cutter applications, the company added an unusual requirement: handwritten letters.
• The prompts meant the letters felt more like personal reflections than rote formalities, said Marlee Pelton-Fuentes, customer success manager at Dumb.co.