Job Interviews: When AI Replaces In-Person Humans

The digital age is redefining the recruitment process, and artificial intelligence (AI) is playing an increasingly central role. Millions of job seekers must now adapt to a new reality: interviewing with AI avatars. These interviews take place via video calls, where the avatar asks questions and evaluates candidates' responses. For many, landing a job in the age of AI seems more intimidating than ever.

Several companies, such as CodeSignal, Humanly, and Eightfold, have positioned themselves at the forefront of this innovation. They argue that these tools allow recruiters to consider a larger number of candidates for a given position, particularly during preliminary interviews. One of the arguments put forth is that these systems reduce human biases and prejudices by focusing solely on candidates' verbal responses. However, these AI-led interviews have sparked numerous discussions and controversies.

The idea of a bias-free AI is contested. AI models are trained on vast datasets sourced from the internet, which inevitably contain biases such as sexism or racism. Thus, achieving perfect neutrality remains a challenging goal.

During my personal experience with these systems, I felt the "uncanny valley" while observing an AI avatar listening to my responses. I tested three AI interviewers for various positions, some fictional and others real at Vox Media. The platforms varied in terms of naturalness and interaction, but one constant remained: the desire to speak to a human was still present. To explore this experience in detail, I invite you to watch the associated video.