Amazon loves AI, except when candidates use it in their job interviews

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Amazon, one of the world's largest employers, wants to stop this growing trend.Recent guidance given by Amazon to the company's internal recruiters states that if it is found that an applicant has used an AI tool during an interview, they may be removed from the hiring process.

According to the recommendations obtained by Business Insider, Amazon believes that using AI tools in interviews gives candidates an "unfair advantage" and prevents the company from assessing their "actual" skills and experience.

"To ensure a fair and transparent hiring process, please do not use generative tools during interviews, unless explicitly permitted," the guidelines state. "Failure to follow these guidelines may result in disqualification from the hiring process."

The guidelines also state that Amazon recruiters should communicate these policies to job candidates.

The move highlights one of the many ethical issues raised by the rise of generative artificial intelligence. Amazon has restricted the use of AI tools such as ChatGPT for employees, although it encourages them to use internal AI applications to improve productivity. "Hacking" job interviews through AI is becoming a growing trend, causing controversy in Silicon Valley.

In a recent internal Slack conversation seen by BI, some Amazon employees discussed the need to ban AI tools during interviews, as it could improve the quality of work.

"This is definitely a growing trend, especially for Tech/SDE roles," said one Slack message, referring to software engineers.

An Amazon spokesperson said the company's hiring process "prioritizes ensuring candidates maintain high standards."

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The spokesperson said in an email to BI that candidates must confirm that they "will not use unauthorized tools such as GenAI for support" during the interview, where applicable.

This trend has become such a big problem for Amazon that the company has even shared internal tips for identifying candidates who use next-generation AI tools during interviews.

According to Amazon's guidelines, candidates are allowed to talk about how they used generative AI applications to "achieve effectiveness" in their current or previous roles, but they are strictly forbidden from using these during interviews.

A recent video produced by an AI company claiming that a candidate received a job offer from Amazon after using the company's coding assistant during an interview has caused concern at the company, a person familiar with the matter told BI. The person requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

This is not just Amazon's problem. Job seekers are becoming more and more daring in interviews using various AI tools. A recent experiment showed that it is easy to cheat in interviews using AI tools like ChatGPT.

In October, xAI co-founder Greg Young wrote on X that he caught a candidate cheating using Anthropic's cloud AI service.

"The candidate tried to use the word cloud during the interview, but it was too obvious," Young wrote.

Wharton School of Business business professor Matthew Bidwell told BI that these AI tools "have definitely entered the mainstream, and employers are concerned about it," citing conversations with students in his human resources program.

Bidwell said it's a problem when employers can't find these tools and job candidates feel uncomfortable admitting to using them.

"There's a big risk that people will use it to misrepresent their skills, and I think that's a little unethical," Bidwell said.

Not everyone is against it. Some Silicon Valley companies are willing to allow these apps in interviews, because they're already using them on the job. Others make the technical interview an open-book test, but add questions for deeper assessment.

Amazon viewed by BI

In a recent Slack conversation at Amazon viewed by BI, one person wrote that their team is “exploring” the possibility of providing a generative AI assistant to candidates and changing their hiring approach. Another person said that if a candidate is still hired after using these tools, Amazon has “other mechanisms” to deal with people who don’t meet expectations for their role. A third person questioned whether Amazon could benefit from this. The person said that using generative AI might be “dishonest or unprofessional,” but on the other hand, it “raises the bar” for Amazon by improving the quality of interviews.