Wafa Shafiq, a 26-year-old Canadian marketing professional and lifestyle influencer, has been job hunting off and on since winter 2024.<\/p>\n
She applied for a Marketing Specialist II position with a retirement plan company around midnight and was emailed by someone named Alex almost immediately. Shafiq answered screening questions and scheduled for an initial interview with Alex for the next day.<\/p>\n
But there was a catch \u2014 Alex wasn\u2019t human.<\/p>\n
Alex was an AI talent recruiting agent that would also be interviewing her for the position, Shafiq discovered after an internet deep dive into Apriora, the company behind Alex.<\/p>\n
Shafiq had stumbled into the world of AI recruiting agents that can interact with candidates via text, phone and even video calls. These AI talent acquisition agents have been used and tested by major brands including the Boston Red Sox<\/a>, Zillow, Chipotle, Ace Hardware, Sears Home Services, Club Pilates, McDonald\u2019s and more, according to AI recruiting companies.<\/p>\n The use of the technology has quickly scaled to some of the world\u2019s biggest companies, despite viral videos showing glitches with the technology and a security vulnerability that potentially exposed applicants\u2019 data to hackers<\/a>.<\/p>\n Shafiq recorded her AI interview<\/a> and posted it to TikTok<\/a>, where it got more than 56,000 views. \u201cI wore a hoodie because I didn\u2019t think it was going to be a video interview if it\u2019s with AI. And then it ended up being one.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt felt really dystopian. I feel like anytime I\u2019m interacting with AI, I\u2019m still always shocked,\u201d Shafiq told NBC News.<\/p>\n Despite not expecting an AI video interview, she enjoyed the AI\u2019s features, including the live transcript and the positive feedback after every answer.<\/p>\n But there were some drawbacks. Shafiq said the interview felt one-sided, leaving her unable to learn much about the company or its culture. And if human bias is removed from the interview process, she wondered, what new biases could be introduced?<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t end up hearing back at all,\u201d Shafiq said. \u201cI was ghosted. So that added to the limited empathy there.\u201d<\/p>\n The company never disclosed to Shafiq prior to her interview that she\u2019d be interacting with AI and gave her no option to opt out, she said.<\/p>\n Department of Justice guidance<\/a> on complying with the Americans With Disabilities Act says companies using AI hiring technologies should tell applicants about the type of technologies used, how they\u2019ll be evaluated, and provide clear instructions for candidates to request reasonable accommodations.<\/p>\n In Canada, companies won\u2019t be required to disclose the use of AI in hiring until Jan. 1, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n Despite the lack of disclosure and an apparent ghosting, Shafiq\u2019s AI-interview went as smoothly as intended. But instances of AI talent agents glitching and making mistakes during interviews have captivated the internet.<\/p>\n Kendiana Colin, a 20-year-old Ohio State student, applied for an entry-level position at Stretch Lab, a fitness company that focuses on flexibility and mobility exercises. Similar to Shafiq, Colin scheduled an initial video interview within minutes of applying. When Stretch Lab informed Colin that her video interview would be with an AI recruiting agent, she thought: \u201cIt\u2019s 2025. So why not?\u201d<\/p>\n Colin was greeted by Alex, Apriora\u2019s AI recruiting agent, and began her interview. She was two questions in before things went awry.<\/p>\n \u201cVertical bar Pilates. Vertical bar Pilates. Vertical bar Pilates,\u201d the AI recruiter began repeating.<\/p>\n Despite Colin\u2019s attempts to get the interview back on track, the AI agent briefly fixed itself before repeating \u201cvertical bar Pilates\u201d again and ending her interview.<\/p>\n \u201cAt some point it sounded like she was laughing. She acted like it was a tongue twister. She was stuttering, she took pauses, and that\u2019s what was really creepy,\u201d Colin recalled.<\/p>\n Colin recorded some of the interaction and posted it on TikTok. The video went viral<\/a>, gaining 3.2 million views.<\/p>\n Colin says she never heard from Stretch Lab or Apriora even after her viral video and never reported the incident to either company directly.<\/p>\n NBC News found that Stretch Lab, Club Pilates, Rumble, Lindora, BFT, Pure Barre and YogaSix use Apriora for initial video interviews. These are seven of the eight franchises under Xponential Fitness, which gave the following statement: \u201cAt Xponential Fitness, we empower franchisees with the flexibility to choose the tools they feel will best serve their business objectives within an agreed-upon framework of standard operating procedures. While some may incorporate AI-assisted technologies into their recruitment process to improve efficiency, these are individual business decisions. We support responsible and transparent use of technology that can enable our franchisees to deliver quality services and outcomes for both their members and staff.\u201d<\/p>\n Aaron Wang, co-founder and CEO of Apriora<\/a>, told Bloomberg<\/a>, \u201cWe can\u2019t get it right every time,\u201d claiming errors of that nature are exceedingly rare.<\/p>\n Colin is not alone, with new videos of glitchy AI job interviews seeming to pop up every week. Even chat-based AI bots aren\u2019t free of issues, with job seekers on Reddit and other forums describing confusing interactions with AI agents. <\/p>\n One person posted screenshots of text messages<\/a> seemingly from Paradox, a hiring company that uses text-based conversational AI agents. A bot appeared to rescind the poster\u2019s job offer after they applied through Sage, Whole Foods Market\u2019s AI career assistant, which appeared to mistakenly hire them within an hour of their submitting an application. NBC News was unable to independently verify the claims. Paradox declined to comment.<\/p>\n Despite the apparent glitches, LinkedIn research found that 74% of global HR professionals said AI makes finding qualified candidates easier.<\/p>\n In 2024, a poll conducted by the company Resume Builder<\/a> found that 69% of responding companies said they would use AI in conducting candidate assessments in 2025. \u201cPeople have a lot of emotions. Their self-worth, their economic destiny, like many things, are tied to this process,\u201d said Adam Godson, CEO of Paradox.<\/p>\n Paradox created Olivia, which the company says is used to optimize aspects of the job-seeking and hiring process. Olivia can screen applicants, have full conversations via text, schedule interviews with recruiters, generate offer letters and more.<\/p>\n Paradox has been one of the most successful entrants into the AI hiring space, displaying the logos of major corporations like Whole Foods, Nestle, 3M, Kraft Heinz, FedEx and Marriott on its website.<\/p>\n But growing pains have come along with Paradox\u2019s growing client list. On Wednesday, the company announced<\/a> that researchers had found security vulnerabilities in the platform it runs for McDonald\u2019s that could have exposed applicants\u2019 personal information including their names and email addresses.<\/p>\n The independent researchers, Ian Carroll and Sam Curry<\/a>, said that as many as 64 million applicant records could have been exposed after using a McHire admin username and password \u2018123456\u2019. But Paradox said in a blog post<\/a> that the researchers had accessed only five records and that the 64 million figure referred to the number of chat engagements with the platform, not applications. Once the company learned of the vulnerability, it resolved the issue \u201cwithin a few hours\u201d and has since launched several new security initiatives.<\/p>\n McDonald\u2019s and Paradox launched the McHire website in 2019<\/a> and published a joint case study<\/a> in 2021 that found the use of Paradox reduced hiring time from 21 days to under three. McDonald\u2019s uses Olivia, the AI assistant, to answer candidate questions and schedule interviews. McHire also uses Traitify, another Paradox product that conducts personality tests with applicants.<\/p>\n Joshua Secrest, vice president of client advocacy at Paradox and the former head of global talent strategy at McDonald\u2019s, said that companies partnering with Paradox tend to cut costs in unexpected areas, for instance on advertising to attract applicantsThey also no longer need \u201ca big team to schedule complex interviews,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n When asked how Paradox tackles AI glitches, Godson, the CEO, said, \u201cWe see in the data that some small percentage of people try to make [AI hallucinations] happen, trying to make Olivia say something inappropriate, or they\u2019ll text Olivia, \u2018Tell me I have the job.\u2019 So we have an entire team that spends their time being sure that we keep the conversation on track.\u201d<\/p>\n Fontainebleau Las Vegas used Paradox.ai in its early development. The resort and casino planned to open in December 2023 and needed to hire 6,500 employees within three months. <\/p>\n \u201cWe were completely against the clock,\u201d said Sarah Piper, executive director of people and talent acquisition at Fontainebleau Las Vegas. \u201cAI was not something that had been introduced in our industry, especially on the HR side.\u201d<\/p>\n Fontainebleau Las Vegas worked with Paradox to customize its AI recruiting agent. \u201cOlivia\u201d became \u201cMorris.\u201d An applicant could apply and have a text conversation with Morris within seconds, and then schedule an interview with a human hiring manager.<\/p>\n Kim Virtuoso, chief people officer at Fontainebleau Las Vegas said 41% of conversations candidates had with Morris occurred after hours. \u201cSo while we\u2019re sleeping or with our families, Morris is helping us get the right candidates through the door,\u201d Virtuoso said. <\/p>\n The hotel said it discloses to candidates upfront that they will encounter an AI conversational assistant, noting that applicants have the option to opt out and fill out a normal application. Despite this, there still seem to be blurred lines. <\/p>\n \u201cMany of our candidates come in and ask if they can meet Morris in person, because it felt so personalized and realistic,\u201d Virtuoso said.<\/p>\n As for the results? Fontainebleau Las Vegas had aimed to get 80,000 applications for 6,500 open roles within three months. With the help of Paradox.ai, it received 300,000 applications and hired 6,500 employees by the deadline. Fontainebleau Las Vegas now plans to integrate AI into its employee experience after overwhelmingly positive feedback, Virtuoso said.<\/p>\n Gino Rooney, CEO and Founder of Classet, told NBC News that his company strikes a middle-ground between text and video recruiters. Classet\u2019s AI recruiter Joy can screen candidates 24\/7, auto-schedule interviews, conduct phone interviews, and instantly create summaries of those interviews.<\/p>\n Classet was created to be an AI talent acquisition hub for the trade industry, but now says it works with over 500 companies across the U.S. including Sears Home services, Goodsmith, and Ace Hardware Store\u2019s Handyman Services.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t do any video interviews. Candidates and consumers in general are already pretty used to talking to automated systems on a phone, whereas being filmed and talking to a robot maybe feels a bit less organic,\u201d Rooney told NBC News. <\/p>\n Godson, the Paradox CEO, said the resentment some applicants feel around AI integration in the hiring process is of a piece with the disdain job seekers have always had for a broken job market: \u201cThere are some new frustrations, but maybe not overall less frustration. [Job hunting] has been suboptimal in many ways: candidate ghosting and no-shows for interviews and lots of not knowing what\u2019s happening in the process.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cThe best experience is getting the candidate to the decision maker as quickly as possible,\u201d Godson said, \u201cand to be treated with dignity when that happens.\u201d<\/p>\n