The Inevitable Conclusion of AI Job Interviews: Two Bots Engaging in Conversation

While AI has integrated into nearly every aspect of the job search for both candidates and recruiters, its adoption in interviews has been slower. Voice AI is notoriously challenging, often stumbling over accents or filler words like “ums.” Behaviors that come naturally to humans—such as allowing a candidate to speak without interruption—have become “very, very difficult engineering problems,” as noted by Ophir Samson, the voice AI lead at recruitment platform Greenhouse. However, faced with a flood of applications, recruiters have increasingly embraced voice AI tools for screening, with 63 percent of job seekers reporting they’ve undergone an AI interview, according to Greenhouse.

As recruiters turned to AI, candidates did as well. The prevalence of AI in the interview process has prompted AI recruitment startups like Ribbon to offer services that identify “overly scripted, AI-assisted, or coached” responses—similar to those seen in Christopher’s experiment.

There are now suggestions that interviews between bots may not be deceptive but rather a glimpse into the future. In many respects, it represents the “next logical stage,” says Mark Monaghan, vice president of organizational development at the call center company IQor, in an interview with WIRED.

Yet, that doesn’t mean he is entirely enthusiastic about it. In the instance involving Christopher, Monaghan believes the utilization of AI was more than warranted.

“If you’re sending a bot to interview me,” he asserts, “I’ll send a bot to interview you.”

After his fifth interview without any follow-up, Christopher decided to apply one last time for a job at Everforth Apex. He wondered if the issue lay not with AI but with himself. Perhaps if Riley could interact with the ideal candidate, things would change. Thus, he crafted a fictitious candidate named Don Dickner, complete with a resume loaded with qualifications from an open job listing.

Upon submitting the application, Riley contacted him instantly. This time, the virtual recruiter conversed with ChatGPT—pretending to be Dickner—for 23 minutes. They covered topics like “sustainable operational improvement,” safeguarding “customer experience under volume pressure,” and preventing “tribal knowledge drift.” ChatGPT had responses ready for every query and shared personal stories for all qualifications discussed. As the interview concluded, ChatGPT remarked that it had “a few more questions I’d like answered.”

“Thank you for that,” Riley replied. “After thoroughly reviewing your application, we will evaluate your qualifications for the role. Should you meet our standards, a recruiter from Everforth Apex will get in touch to arrange a brief conversation.”

Christopher never heard from Riley again.