Марія Бровінська Work 17 March 2025, 15:27

A 21-year-old student created an AI application that helps programmer candidates deceive employers during interviews. Interview Coder has already been used by thousands of IT professionals. Tech giants are disappointed and ready to return in-person job interviews in offices

A 21-year-old computer science student at Columbia University, Chung-in «Roy» Lee, decided to create his own startup, Interview Coder, which will help software engineers use artificial intelligence to cheat in job interviews.

Hiring managers are disappointed

Hiring managers are expressing their frustration on social media over the rise of AI scammers, claiming that those caught are being eliminated from the job market. Interviewers say they are tired of having to determine whether candidates are using their own skills or relying on AI.

The coding tools rely on generative AI models to provide software engineers with real-time answers to coding problems they encounter during interviews. The AI analyzes both written and spoken questions and instantly generates code. Widgets can also provide cheaters with explanations of solutions they can use during the interview.

However, the most valuable feature of the tools may be their secrecy. Lee’s Interview Coder is invisible to the interviewer.

While candidates are using technology to cheat, employers are watching their interview behavior to try to catch them. Interviewers have learned to notice wandering eyes, reflections of other apps on candidates' glasses, answers that sound rehearsed or don’t answer the questions, among other clues.

Hiring managers say they’ve noticed many candidates using the ubiquitous sound to buy time while waiting for artificial intelligence tools to finish their work.

«I hear a pause, then ‘Hmm,’ and suddenly it’s the perfect answer,» says Anna Spearman, founder of Techie Staffing, an agency that helps companies fill technical positions. «There were also times when the code looked OK, but they couldn’t describe how they came to that conclusion.»

Henry Kirk, a software developer and co-founder of Studio.init in New York, says this type of cheating used to be easy to spot. He says technology has become smart enough to show answers in a place where you don’t have to move your eyes. «Eye movement used to be the biggest clue,» Kirk says.

Protected electronic «scam»

Interview Coder’s website states that its virtual interview tool is immune to the screen-detection features available to companies on services like Zoom and Google Meet. Lee positions his product as webcam-proof.

When Kirk hosted a virtual coding interview for an engineering position he was looking for in June, he said, 700 people applied. Kirk recorded the first round of interviews. He tried to figure out if any of the candidates were cheating, using results from large language models in particular. «Over 50% of them were cheating,» he said.

According to experts, AI tools for fraud have improved so much in the past year that they are almost impossible to detect. In addition to Lee’s Interview Coder, software engineers can also use programs such as Leetcode Wizard or ChatGPT.

Kirk said his startup is considering moving to in-person interviews, although he knows that this potentially limits the talent pool.

«The problem is, I don’t have much confidence in the results right now,» Kirk says. «I don’t know what else can be done besides interviewing on the spot.»

Pichai insists on reintroducing live interviews at Google

It has become a major topic at Google, and Pichai spoke in February at an internal meeting where executives read out questions and comments that had been submitted by employees and summarized by artificial intelligence, according to an audio recording reviewed by CNBC.

One of the questions posed to management was, «Can we bring back on-site interviews? If budget is limited, can we bring candidates to an office or environment that we can control?»

Pichai turned to Brian Ong, Google’s vice president of recruiting, who had joined the virtual live broadcast. «Brian, are we doing a hybrid?» Pichai asked.

Candidates and Googlers say they prefer virtual interviews because it’s easier to schedule a video call than to find a time to meet in an existing conference room, Ong said. He added that virtual interviews are about two weeks faster. He said interviewers are instructed to check candidates' answers to see if they really know what they’re talking about.

«We definitely have a lot of work to do to integrate AI into the interview process,» Ong said. He said his recruiting organization is working with Google’s engineering steering committee to figure out how the company can improve the interview process.

«Given that we’re all working in a hybrid mode, I think it’s worth considering having some of the interviews be in-person,» Pichai replied. «I think it helps candidates understand the Google culture, and I think it’s good for both parties.»

Ong said it was also an issue that «all our other competing companies are looking at.» A Google representative declined to comment beyond what was said at the meeting.

Other companies have already changed their hiring practices to account for AI fraud.

Tech giants against AI in job interviews

Anthropic, the developer of the Claude chatbot, released new guidance in its job applications in February asking candidates not to use AI assistants during the hiring process.

«While we encourage people to use AI systems in their jobs to help them work faster and more efficiently, please do not use AI assistants during the application process,» the new policy says. «We want to understand your personal interest in Anthropic without the help of an AI system, and also assess your communication skills without the help of an AI. Please indicate „Yes“ if you have read and agree.»

Amazon is also taking steps to combat AI fraud. The company is asking candidates to confirm that they will not use unauthorized tools during the interview or assessment process, spokeswoman Margaret Callahan told CNBC.

«Every time I mention interviews, I get frustrated comments about Leetcode,» Ryan Peterman, a software engineer at Meta, wrote in a newsletter published on Substack in December. Peterman said Leetcode tasks are intentionally designed to be much more difficult than those software engineers face in the workplace. Leetcode is the best tool companies have for filtering through hundreds of candidates, Peterman writes.

Isabelle De Vries, head of marketing at Leetcode Wizard, told CNBC that Leetcode-style interviews (which are how Lee’s startup was created) don’t accurately measure engineering skills and don’t reflect the real-world, day-to-day work of an engineer. «Our product comes from the same frustrations that many of our users experience,» De Vries said.

Deception as a favor

Lee touts Interview Coder as «invisible to all screen recording apps.» To prove its effectiveness, he videotaped himself during an interview at Amazon and posted the video on YouTube. Amazon and other companies that had made Lee offers later withdrew them.

Lee received hundreds of positive comments about the video, which YouTube removed after CNBC reached out to Amazon and Google for comment on the story. YouTube cited a «copyright claim» from Amazon as the reason for the removal.

«As an interviewer, he really annoys me, but as a candidate, I love him,» wrote former Meta in-house engineer Yanshun Tei, co-founder of startup GreatFrontEnd, in a LinkedIn post about Lee and his video. «Cheating is wrong, but oh my god, I’m so tired of these stupid interviews with algorithms.» After YouTube removed the video, Lee reuploaded it.

Lee said he never planned on working at Amazon, Meta, or TikTok. He said he wanted to show others how easy it was to cheat Leetcode and force companies to find a better alternative. And, he says, he’s making money in the process.

Interview Coder is available on a subscription basis for $60 per month. Lee says the company plans to reach $1 million in annual revenue by mid-May.

On its website, Leetcode Wizard positions itself as «The #1 AI-powered coding interview cheating app» and «The perfect tool to achieve a ‘Strong Hire’ score on any coding interview and land your dream job at any FAANG company.» Leetcode Wizard costs €49 ($53) per month for a «Pro» subscription.

More than 16,000 people have used the app, and «several hundred» people have told Leetcode Wizard they have received offers thanks to the software, the company told CNBC.

Lee announced that he is moving from New York to San Francisco in March to continue working on Interview Coder and start working on his next company.

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