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AI in hiring13 min read

AI Interviews in 2026: What Candidates Should Expect and What Employers Owe Them

How AI and one-way interviews work, the notice and consent candidates are owed, how to prepare, and the red flags employers should avoid in AI tools.

By the HireRabbit.AI team · Published · Last updated

A few years ago, being interviewed by software was a novelty. Today, a large share of job seekers have already sat through one, and many more will. For candidates, that raises practical questions: what is actually happening on the other side of the screen, what is being recorded, and what can you ask for? For employers, it raises a different set: what do you owe the people you invite, and which tools deserve your trust? This guide covers both sides, in plain English, with sources listed at the end.

How common AI interviews have become

The short answer is: common, and growing.

  • More than half of US job seekers have met one. Greenhouse's 2025 AI in Hiring Report, released in November 2025 and based on 4,136 job seekers, recruiters and hiring managers across the US, UK, Ireland and Germany, found that 54% of US job seekers had encountered an AI-led interview.
  • Many employers already use AI inside the interview itself. In an October 2024 Resume Builder survey of 948 business leaders, among companies using AI in interviews, 81% said they use it to ask interview questions and 24% said AI conducts the entire interview, a share they expected to reach 29% in 2025. The same survey headline found that 7 in 10 companies planned to use AI in hiring in 2025.
  • HR teams are adopting AI quickly. SHRM's 2025 Talent Trends research, based on 2,040 HR professionals, found that AI adoption in HR tasks climbed to 43% in 2025, up from 26% in 2024. HireVue's 2025 AI report, drawn from more than 4,000 HR leaders and employees, put AI adoption among HR professionals at 72% in 2025, up from 58% in 2024.

Different surveys measure different things, so the exact figure depends on who you ask and how the question was worded. The direction is the same everywhere: AI is moving from resume screening into the interview stage.

The trust gap candidates bring to the room

Adoption has run ahead of trust. Candidates are not necessarily against the technology, but they are skeptical of how it is used on them.

  • Pew Research Center surveyed 11,004 US adults in December 2022 and published the results in April 2023. It found that 71% oppose AI making a final hiring decision, while only 7% favor it, and 66% would not want to apply for a job with an employer that uses AI to help make hiring decisions. Interestingly, 47% thought AI would do better than humans at evaluating all applicants in the same way, against 15% who thought it would do worse.
  • Gartner, in a survey of 2,918 job candidates reported in July 2025, found that only 26% trust AI will fairly evaluate them, and 25% said they trust employers less if AI is used to evaluate their information.
  • Greenhouse found that only 8% of candidates believe AI makes hiring more fair, and 87% say it is important for employers to be transparent about their own AI use.
  • HireVue's 2024 survey of 3,100 workers found that 79% want to know if an employer is using AI in hiring when they apply, and 3 in 4 oppose AI making final hiring decisions.

Read together, these numbers point to something useful for both sides. Candidates are asking for two things: to be told, and to have a person make the call. Neither is expensive to provide.

How a real-time spoken AI interview works

"AI interview" covers a few different formats, and it helps to know which one you are facing.

One-way (asynchronous) video interviews

This is the older format. You open a link, read or hear a question, and record an answer within a time limit. There is no conversation: the questions are fixed in advance and nobody responds to what you say. Recordings are reviewed later by recruiters, sometimes with software that transcribes or scores the answers.

Real-time spoken AI interviews

This is the newer format, and it feels much closer to a phone or video call. A typical session looks like this:

  1. You receive a link from the recruiter, usually by email, often with a window of days in which to complete it.
  2. You see a notice and consent screen before anything starts. A good one explains that AI will conduct the interview, what is recorded, and how the results are used.
  3. You check your camera and microphone. Most tools run a short device test.
  4. The AI interviewer asks questions out loud and listens to your spoken answers. Unlike one-way video, it can ask a follow-up based on what you said, for example asking for a specific example if your answer stayed general.
  5. The session ends and a record is produced. Usually that means a video recording, a written transcript and a structured report for the recruiter.
  6. A person reviews it. In a well-run process, a recruiter or hiring manager reads the transcript and report and decides whether you move forward.

The key point for candidates is that step 6 should always exist. An AI interview is a way of collecting structured information at a time that suits you. It should not be the final decision.

Your rights and the notice you should get

This section is general information, not legal advice. Rules vary by location and change often, so check the current law where you live or hire, and speak to an employment lawyer about your situation.

Illinois: the Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act

Illinois has regulated AI analysis of video interviews since January 1, 2020, under the Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act (820 ILCS 42). It applies when an employer asks applicants for Illinois-based positions to record video interviews and uses AI to analyze them. Before the interview, the employer must:

  • Notify you that AI may be used to analyze your video interview and consider your fitness for the position.
  • Explain how the AI works and what general types of characteristics it uses to evaluate applicants.
  • Get your consent to be evaluated this way.

The Act also limits sharing: your video may only go to people whose expertise is needed to evaluate you. And if you ask, the employer must delete your interview videos, including copies held by others, within 30 days.

New York City: Local Law 144

New York City's law on automated employment decision tools has been enforced since July 5, 2023. If an automated tool substantially assists in screening candidates for jobs in the city, the employer must have a bias audit of that tool within the previous year, publish a summary of the results, and give candidates notice at least 10 business days before use. The notice must include instructions for requesting an alternative selection process or a reasonable accommodation. If an AI interview produces scores used to decide who advances, it is worth asking whether this law applies.

The European Union: the AI Act

The EU AI Act lists AI systems "intended to be used for the recruitment or selection of natural persons," including those used "to analyse and filter job applications, and to evaluate candidates," as high-risk in Annex III. High-risk systems carry duties around human oversight, transparency, logging and documentation. Under the Digital Omnibus on AI adopted in 2026, those stand-alone high-risk obligations now apply from December 2, 2027.

One part of the Act already applies. Since February 2, 2025, Article 5(1)(f) has prohibited AI systems that infer what a person is feeling in workplace settings, with narrow medical and safety exceptions. The European Commission's guidelines make clear that this covers hiring, from recruitment onward.

What this means for you

Even where no specific law applies, you can reasonably expect, and ask for:

  • A clear statement that AI is involved, before you start.
  • An explanation of what is recorded and who will see it.
  • A way to request an accommodation or an alternative format.
  • A person, not a system, making the final decision.

How candidates can prepare

Preparing for an AI interview is mostly the same as preparing for any interview, with a few practical differences.

Set up your space

  • Quiet room, closed door. Background noise makes transcripts less accurate, and the transcript is often what a recruiter reads first.
  • Light in front of you, not behind. A window behind you turns you into a silhouette.
  • Stable connection. Use a wired connection or sit close to your router. Close other apps that use bandwidth.
  • Plain background. You do not need a studio, just nothing distracting.

Get your audio right

Audio matters more than video in a spoken interview, because your words become the transcript. Use headphones with a microphone if you have them, since they cut echo. Do the device test properly, and if the tool lets you, record a sentence and play it back. Speak at a normal pace; you do not need to slow down artificially, but avoid rushing through the end of an answer.

Answer with specifics

The most common weak answer in any interview is a general one. With an AI interviewer, a vague answer will often draw a follow-up asking for an example, so give one up front.

  • Name a real situation, what you did, and what happened as a result.
  • Use numbers where they are honest: team size, time saved, volume handled.
  • Say what you would do differently. Reflection reads well to the human who reviews the transcript later.
  • It is fine to pause. A short silence to think is normal, and most real-time tools wait for you.

Ask for accommodations early

If you have a disability, a speech difference, a hearing impairment or any other reason the format may not work for you, ask the recruiter for an accommodation before the interview. Options might include extra time, a different format, captions or a live interviewer. In New York City, the required notice must explain how to request one, and employers have accommodation duties under broader disability law in many places.

Know what is recorded

Read the consent screen instead of clicking past it. Look for answers to three questions: is video recorded or only audio, who can see the recording and transcript, and how long are they kept? If you are applying for a role in Illinois, remember that you can ask for your video to be deleted.

Candidate checklist

Before the interviewWhat to check
NoticeYou were told AI is involved and what it assesses
RecordingYou know whether video, audio and a transcript are kept, and for how long
Human reviewYou know a person makes the decision
AccommodationsYou have asked for any adjustment you need, in writing
SetupQuiet room, front lighting, headphones, stable connection
AnswersTwo or three real examples ready for the skills in the job description
QuestionsYour own questions ready for the recruiter afterward

What employers owe candidates

If you use AI interviews, the research above tells you what candidates want: transparency and a human decision. Here is what that looks like in practice.

Get consent before the session starts

Show a clear notice and consent screen before any recording begins. Say that the interview is conducted by AI, what it evaluates, and how results are used. In Illinois, this is a legal requirement for AI-analyzed video interviews; elsewhere, it is simply good practice and increasingly expected.

Explain what is recorded

Tell candidates plainly whether you keep video, audio, a transcript and a report, who can access them and for how long. Limit access to the people who evaluate the candidate. Have a process for deletion requests, and in Illinois, meet the 30-day deadline.

Keep humans deciding

Treat the AI interview as structured evidence, not a verdict. A recruiter or hiring manager should read the transcript and report, and that person should own the decision to advance or reject. Make sure the reviewer can see how any score was produced, so they can disagree with it.

Use integrity signals only as review flags

Remote interviews invite some misuse, including reading from another screen or getting help off camera. Greenhouse found that 36% of US job seekers had used AI to alter their appearance, voice or background during video interviews. Tools that watch for signs of this, such as gaze leaving the screen or repeated hand movement toward another device, can be useful as prompts for a human to look closer. They should never count against a candidate automatically. A person looking away may be thinking, reading a note they were allowed, or dealing with a child in the next room. Keep these signals out of the score and let a reviewer judge them in context.

Offer accommodations and alternatives

Tell candidates how to ask for an accommodation before the interview, and respond quickly. Have a real alternative ready, such as a live interview, for anyone the format does not suit.

Keep transcripts and records

Retain the transcript, the report and the notice the candidate saw, so you can explain any decision later. Several rules, including New York City's audit requirement and the EU AI Act's logging duties for high-risk systems, assume you can reconstruct what happened.

Employer duties at a glance

DutyWhat good looks like
Notice and consentShown before the session, in plain language
RecordingCandidate told what is kept, who sees it, and for how long
Human decisionA named person reviews and decides
Integrity flagsShown to a reviewer, never changing the score
AccommodationsEasy to request, with a live alternative available
RecordsTranscript, report and notice retained and retrievable

Red flags in AI interview tools

Not every tool on the market deserves the same trust. When you evaluate a vendor, or when you are a candidate reading a consent screen, watch for these.

Claims to read feelings or character from video. Some tools claim they can tell how a person feels, or what kind of person they are, from facial expressions, tone of voice or posture. The science behind these claims is weak, they risk penalizing people with disabilities, accents or cultural differences, and in the EU, inferring what people feel at work, including in recruitment, has been prohibited since February 2025. Pew found that 73% of Americans think face recognition at work would lead to facial expressions being misinterpreted. Treat any such claim as a reason to walk away.

A score with no breakdown. If the tool produces an overall rating but cannot show which answers drove it and how, a reviewer has nothing to check it against.

Automatic rejection. If the tool can reject candidates without a person reviewing the result, ask who set the threshold and how a decision is reversed.

No consent step, or consent buried in terms. Candidates should see a clear notice before recording starts, not a link to a long policy.

Vague answers about recording and retention. A vendor should be able to tell you exactly what is stored, where, and how deletion works.

Monitoring signals that feed the score. Signals about where someone is looking or how they move are noisy. If they change a candidate's score rather than prompting a human review, that is a design problem.

What a responsible setup looks like

Put together, a responsible AI interview process has a simple shape: the candidate is told and asked before anything starts, the conversation produces a recording, a transcript and a report, the report's score is traceable to the individual answers, any monitoring signals go to a person as flags, and a human decides.

That is the model we follow at HireRabbit.AI. A recruiter sends a link, the candidate sees a consent screen before the session starts, and the interview happens as a real-time spoken conversation. Recruiters receive the video recording, the transcript and a report whose headline score is computed from per-question scores. Eye, body and hand movement are tracked only to raise integrity flags for a person to review, and they never change the score. People make the decisions. If you want to see how it works, the AI Interviewer is available through invite-only early access.

Whether you are the person being interviewed or the person running the process, the same questions apply: were you told, do you know what was recorded, and is a human making the call? If the answer to all three is yes, AI interviews can save time on both sides without costing anyone a fair hearing.

Sources

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