Amazon Bans AI Tools in Job Interviews to Ensure Fair Hiring
Amazon, one of the world’s largest employers, is taking a firm stance against the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools during job interviews. The company recently shared guidelines with its internal recruiters, stating that applicants found using AI assistance could be disqualified from the hiring process. This move reflects a growing concern about the ethical implications of AI in recruitment and aims to ensure a fair assessment of candidates’ authentic skills and experiences.
The guidelines, obtained by Business Insider, indicate that Amazon views the use of AI tools as providing candidates with an “unfair advantage.” The company has instructed recruiters to inform candidates about the ban and to actively look for signs of AI tool usage during interviews. Amazon’s guidelines state, “To ensure a fair and transparent recruitment process, please do not use GenAI tools during your interview unless explicitly permitted,” and the guidelines also state that “Failure to adhere to these guidelines may result in disqualification from the recruitment process.”
This crackdown is part of a broader effort to address the challenges posed by generative AI. While Amazon encourages its employees to utilize internal AI applications to boost productivity, it has restricted the use of tools like ChatGPT. The company’s actions reflect the increasing prevalence of “AI-assisted” interviews, where candidates use tools to generate answers in real-time, giving them an edge over those relying on their own knowledge and skills.
“Hacking” job interviews with AI is a growing trend, prompting debate across Silicon Valley.
Internal Debate and Growing Concerns
The decision has sparked internal discussion, as reported in a recent internal Slack conversation seen by BI. Some Amazon employees have debated the need to ban AI tools during job interviews when they can improve the quality of work and cited the use of AI tools as an “increasing trend, especially for tech/SDE roles,” referring to software development engineers.
An Amazon spokesperson emphasized that the company’s recruitment process “prioritizes ensuring that candidates hold a high bar.” When applicable, candidates must acknowledge that they won’t use “unauthorized tools, like GenAI, to support them” during an interview, the spokesperson added in an email to BI.
How Amazon Plans to Detect AI Use
To combat this trend, Amazon has provided internal tips to identify applicants using generative AI tools. These indicators include:
- The candidate can be seen typing whilst being asked questions.
- The candidate appears to be reading their answers rather than responding naturally.
- The candidate’s eyes appear to be tracking text or looking elsewhere, not viewing their primary display or moving naturally during conversation.
- The candidate delivers confident responses that do not clearly or directly address the question.
- The candidate reacts to the outputs of the AI tool when they appear to be incorrect or irrelevant.
While candidates are permitted to talk about how they have used generative AI applications to “achieve efficiencies” in their current or previous roles, they’re strictly prohibited from using them during job interviews, the Amazon guidelines add.
Broader Industry Implications
Amazon’s approach is not an isolated incident. The use of AI tools to assist in job interviews is a growing concern that extends throughout the tech industry. Matthew Bidwell, a business professor at the Wharton School, told BI that these AI tools “definitely penetrated the mainstream, and employers are worried about it,” citing conversations with students in his executive-management program. He noted that the potential for candidates to misrepresent their skills through such tools raises ethical concerns.
Some companies are open to allowing these apps in job interviews because they already use them at work. Others are making the technical interview an open-book test but adding questions for a deeper assessment.
The “Bar Raising” Debate
Some Amazon employees seem less concerned with candidates using generative AI applications during their interviews.
One person wrote in a recent Slack conversation, seen by BI, at Amazon that their team was “studying” the possibility of providing a generative AI assistant to candidates and changing their hiring approach. Another person said that even if a candidate got hired after using these tools, Amazon had “other mechanisms” to address those who do not meet expectations for their roles. A third person questioned whether Amazon could benefit from this.
Using generative AI may be “dishonest or unprofessional,” this person said, but on the other hand, it’s “raising the bar” for Amazon by improving the quality of the interview.
This situation highlights the complexities and challenges that generative AI is creating in the employment process. As AI technology continues to evolve.
