Dear ChatGPT, please help me find a job in hospitality: the role and ethics of AI in career services in hospitality education

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping higher education and career services, raising critical questions for hospitality students, educators, and industry. This paper examines the role and ethics of AI in hospitality career development. The literature identifies three key areas: the transition from traditional relational career counseling models to AI-enabled efficiency; the use of AI as a pedagogical tool; and ethical challenges concerning authenticity, bias, transparency, privacy, and overreliance. While AI enhances scalability, personalization, and access, it also risks homogenizing applications and undermining fairness in recruitment. The discussion argues for hybrid models in which AI delivers efficiency and data-driven insights while human career educators safeguard reflective practice, authenticity, and ethical judgment. Practical implications are outlined for universities to embed ethical AI literacy, for students to balance technological fluency with interpersonal competence, and for employers to complement AI screening with human oversight. Future research should examine longitudinal career outcomes, cultural fairness in recruitment algorithms, and governance frameworks for the responsible adoption of these algorithms. The paper concludes that AI should act as a complement rather than a replacement, ensuring that hospitality career services remain aligned with the sector’s people-centered ethos.