AI in hiring interviews: what candidates should know

How employers use AI in hiring

Some employers use AI at one or more points in hiring. Common uses include filtering or ranking applications, analysing recorded video interviews, scoring online assessments, and transcribing or summarising live interviews for the people who make the decision. Some tools only help a recruiter work faster. Others produce a score or a recommendation that affects who moves to the next round.

As a candidate, you often cannot tell which kind you are facing. A recorded video interview may be watched only by a person, analysed by software, or both. The difference matters, because an automated score can influence a decision about you without anyone explaining what it measured. The rest of this guide covers the rules that exist in some places and the questions you can ask everywhere.

Evaluation and practice use similar technology for different purposes

An employer's AI tool and a practice tool can use similar speech recognition and language models. The difference is who the output is for. An employer tool produces information that can affect a decision about your application. A practice tool produces feedback for you to accept, question, or ignore.

That difference is why PrepRole's Scorecards carry a practice Verdict, not a hiring decision. The labels look like hiring language because they help you judge an answer the way an interviewer might. They do not reach an employer, and they do not predict what a real hiring team will decide.

New York City: bias audits and notice

New York City's Local Law 144 of 2021 covers automated employment decision tools. According to the city's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, employers and employment agencies may not use such a tool unless it has had a bias audit within one year of its use, information about the audit is publicly available, and the required notices have been given to candidates or employees. The department states that the notice must be given 10 business days before the tool is used.

For a candidate, this means two practical things where the law applies. You can look for the employer's published bias audit summary, and you can expect notice before a covered tool is used. The department accepts complaints about employers or agencies that used a covered tool without the audit, the published summary, or the notices. Whether a particular tool counts as covered depends on how it is used, which this guide cannot assess.

Reference: NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection: Automated Employment Decision Tools (Local Law 144), checked 7 November 2026

Illinois: consent before AI analysis of video interviews

Illinois' Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act applies to employers that ask applicants to record video interviews and use AI to analyse them, for positions based in Illinois. Before the interview, the employer must tell each applicant that AI may be used to analyse the video, explain how the AI works and what general types of characteristics it uses, and get the applicant's consent. The Act says an employer may not use AI to evaluate applicants who have not consented.

The Act also limits sharing of applicant videos to people whose expertise or technology is needed to evaluate the applicant. If you ask, the employer must delete your interview videos within 30 days and tell anyone who received copies to delete them too. An employer that relies solely on AI analysis to decide who gets an in-person interview must also report demographic data to the state each year.

Reference: Illinois General Assembly: Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act (820 ILCS 42), checked 7 November 2026

European Union: limits on solely automated decisions

Article 22 of the General Data Protection Regulation gives people the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling, that has legal effects on them or similarly significantly affects them. There are exceptions: when the decision is necessary for a contract, when another law authorises it with safeguards, or when the person has given explicit consent.

Where a decision relies on the contract or consent exception, the regulation requires suitable safeguards, including at least the right to obtain human intervention, to express your point of view, and to contest the decision. Whether a particular hiring decision is solely automated, and whether it has significant effects, depends on the facts. If you think a decision about you was made only by software, you can ask the employer how it was made and whether a person reviewed it.

Reference: EUR-Lex: General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Article 22, checked 7 November 2026

European Union: AI used to evaluate candidates is classed as high-risk

The EU Artificial Intelligence Act lists high-risk AI systems in its Annex III. Point 4(a) covers AI systems intended for the recruitment or selection of people, in particular to place targeted job advertisements, to analyse and filter job applications, and to evaluate candidates. High-risk systems carry obligations under the regulation for the organisations that provide and use them.

The dates from which these obligations apply have been the subject of later proposals, so this guide does not state them. Check the current status before relying on a date. For a candidate, the classification is a useful signal: European law treats AI that evaluates you for a job as an area that needs extra care, which makes it reasonable to ask how such a tool is used in your process.

Reference: EUR-Lex: Artificial Intelligence Act (EU) 2024/1689, Annex III, checked 7 November 2026

Questions you can ask a recruiter anywhere

You do not need a law to ask a reasonable question. Recruiters answer process questions routinely, and asking about AI use is a process question. Ask early, ideally when the format of the next round is confirmed, and ask neutrally. You are trying to understand the process, not to accuse anyone of misusing a tool.

Note the answers. If an answer is vague, you can ask for a written description of the process or for the relevant policy. If you need an accommodation, for example because a recorded format does not work for you, ask whether an alternative format is available.

• Is AI used at any point in this process? If so, at which stage and for what?
• Does the tool produce a score or recommendation, or does it only transcribe or organise information?
• Does a person review every application or interview before a decision is made?
• How long are recordings and transcripts kept, and who can see them?
• Is there an alternative format if the recorded or automated step does not work for me?

Where practice tools fit

A practice tool should make clear who sees your results. In PrepRole, your Mock Sessions, transcripts, and Scorecards belong to you. Your video stream is never sent to or recorded by PrepRole, and there are no session recordings. A Scorecard is shared only if you create a share link yourself, and you can stop sharing or delete the Scorecard at any time.

PrepRole does not rank candidates for employers. Its Verdict is a practice label written to help you revise an answer, and AI feedback can be wrong. The privacy page lists what is stored and processed. Read it before you share a resume or a real interview transcript.

Reference: PrepRole: privacy and data controls

What this guide does not cover

This guide covers four public texts as of the date each source was checked. Other US states, other countries, and sector rules may also apply, and some of them change often. It does not tell you whether a specific employer or tool is covered by a law, and it does not replace advice from a lawyer or a regulator.

If you believe a rule was broken, the relevant regulator or a qualified adviser is the right next step. For the practice side, the useful step is smaller: prepare for the format you were given, ask the questions above, and keep your own preparation separate from the employer's evaluation.

Frequently asked questions

Practise the next answer

Practice is a separate activity from an employer's evaluation. Run a Mock Session for the Interview Stage you expect, read your Scorecard critically, and keep it as your own preparation. Your practice results stay in your account; nothing is sent to an employer.

Practise for your job

Sources and scope

This guide summarises public legal texts for candidates and is not legal advice. Rules apply only in their own jurisdictions, depend on facts this guide cannot know, and change over time. Each source shows the date PrepRole last checked it; read the current text or ask a qualified adviser before relying on it.

• NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection: Automated Employment Decision Tools (Local Law 144), checked 7 November 2026
• Illinois General Assembly: Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act (820 ILCS 42), checked 7 November 2026
• EUR-Lex: General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Article 22, checked 7 November 2026
• EUR-Lex: Artificial Intelligence Act (EU) 2024/1689, Annex III, checked 7 November 2026
• PrepRole: privacy and data controls

Related guides

• Check AI feedback before acting on it
• Prepare for a recorded or live video interview
• Ask about the process in your own questions