IT companies may return to face-to-face interviews due to rise in AI fraud cases

With the rapid rise of AI tools for getting the right answers during interviews, big tech companies, including Google, are considering a return to in-person interviews. The decision is due to the fact that AI-based platforms such as Interview Coder allow candidates to bypass technical checks during virtual interviews, writes CNBC.

With the shift to remote work and online interviews becoming the norm during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s become easier for candidates to use AI assistants. These tools can generate code in real time, analyze technical questions, and even provide explanations for answers—all without the interviewer’s knowledge.

One of the most well-known tools is Interview Coder, a startup founded by 21-year-old Columbia University student Chung-in "Roy" Lee. The platform helps candidates land interviews at companies like Amazon, Meta, and TikTok. But when companies learn about AI-based candidate fraud, they rescind job offers.

Lee, who now faces expulsion from the university for disciplinary reasons, defends his development.

"Everyone programs nowadays with the help of AI," he says. "It doesn’t make sense to have an interview format that assumes you don’t have the use of AI."

Interview Coder is quickly gaining popularity, with the company predicting that its annual revenue will reach $1 million by mid-May. Other similar tools, such as Leetcode Wizard, are also gaining popularity, with thousands of users claiming to have landed jobs thanks to AI.

Recruiters are increasingly faced with candidates who give perfect answers but fail to understand the logic behind their decisions. Employers are now paying attention to typical signs of fraud, such as:

• Eye movements towards off-camera AI assistants;
• Displaying third-party applications in the lenses of candidates' glasses;
• Pauses, immediately followed by a very clear answer.

Henry Kirk, co-founder of startup Studio.init, conducted virtual interviews for 700 candidates and recorded the first round. He found that over 50% of the applicants cheated using artificial intelligence.

"The problem is now I don’t trust the results as much," Kirk says. "I don’t know what else to do other than on-site."

Amid the rise of AI fraud, Google CEO Sundar Pichai has proposed bringing back in-person interviews. During an internal meeting in February, Google employees asked management whether the company should resume in-person interviews.

"Given we all work hybrid, I think it’s worth thinking about some fraction of the interviews being in person," Pichai replied. "I think it’ll help both the candidates understand Google’s culture and I think it’s good for both sides."

Other companies are also taking action:

• Deloitte has resumed in-person interviews for its programs in the UK.
• Anthropic, the company behind the AI chatbot Claude, has banned the use of AI during interviews;
• Amazon now forces candidates to confirm they won't use AI assistants.

The main controversy surrounding AI in interviews concerns Leetcode, a popular platform for testing programming skills. Companies like Google, Meta, and Amazon use Leetcode to assess the abilities of engineers. However, many programmers, including Lee, criticize Leetcode as an outdated system that doesn't reflect real-world skills.

"I thought I wanted to work at a big tech company and spent 600 hours practicing for Leetcode," says Lee. "It made me miserable, and I almost stopped programming because of how much I didn’t like it."

Interview Coder and Leetcode Wizard position themselves as an alternative to the more complex technical interviews, urging companies to embrace the use of AI rather than ban it. Lee believes that companies should adapt to the new realities rather than fight them.