Job-hunting is already hard enough – now robot interviewers are being thrown into a mix. Social media has been in uproar over the phenomenon of AI interviews, raising concerns over its efficacy
If you were scared of AI taking your job, now it’s hiring you too. An AI job interview has gone viral after a TikTok user posted an incredibly creepy glitch – but it’s left people questioning how effective AI interviewing really is.
TikTok user @its_ken04 went viral after her interview with a pilates company, Stretch Lab, turned into a scene from the twilight zone. Over an uncomfortable-looking online call, an AI interviewer is seen to malfunction, repeating the phrase “vertical bar pilates” again and again.
“It was genuinely so creepy and weird,” the interviewee wrote in her caption. “Please stop trying to be lazy and have AI try to do YOUR JOB!!! It gave me the creeps so bad.”
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Commenters were quick to share their outrage. “Lazy, greedy and arrogant. AI interviews just show me they don’t care about workers from the get go,” one wrote. “So dystopian and disturbing,” another added.
Speaking later to 404 Media about her experience, Its Ken revealed: “I was very shocked. I didn’t do anything to make it glitch, so this was very surprising.”
Apriora is the Y-Combinator-backed start-up behind the AI interviewer, as reported by 404 Media. They claim that AI interviews can help reduce anxiety for candidates. But this user’s experience shows that when it malfunctions, it can be unsettling.
In an interview with Forbes, cofounder of Apriora Aaron Wang said: “Job seekers prefer interviewing with AI in many cases, since knowing the interviewer is AI helps to reduce interviewing anxiety, allowing job seekers to perform at their best.”
The company also claims that “companies use us to get the best hiring signal on their applicant pool and hire in a fraction of the time.” They use an AI interviewer called Alex, who can work round the clock without needing a break. The Mirror reached out to Apriora for comment.
Other TikTokers have also posted unsettling AI interviewers. One account posted an experience they claimed they had with an AI recruiter for a pilates company, in which a robot voice talked her through the job description. “This was so scary guys,” she wrote in the caption. “Why did it say hi like it could hear me”
“The way you put a full beat on your face and a blazer for AI,” one caption wrote. Another said: “Imagine if instead of getting to interview us we sent an AI on our behalf. That would be totally unacceptable. We should not put up with this”
Online, other TikTokers been sharing their own experiences with AI interviews. The user, @wafa.gets.better, claimed she was offered an “AI interview” for a marketing role. She said the interview was “efficient” and that it was “a little easier than an interview because I didn’t have to be as personable.”
However, she also said the downside was that she felt she did need human connection because of how draining the job search is. “The timer, robotic voice and staring at myself as I answered made it feel like I was speaking into a void.”
