When Allowing AI in Live Interviews Improves Signal and When It Backfires

TL;DR

AI can improve interviews when it:

• Helps candidates think more clearly

• Reduces anxiety

• Enables brainstorming

• Levels the playing field for non-native speakers

AI backfires when it:

• Replaces reasoning with answer generation

• Enables proxy or coached participation

• Reduces the interviewer’s ability to evaluate ownership

The solution is not to allow AI everywhere or ban it entirely.
It is to allow AI for planning, not for producing.

The Key Distinction

There are two types of thinking in interviews:

Your policy should reinforce:

AI may assist thinking
AI may not perform thinking

This makes interviews both fair and accurate.

When Allowing AI Improves Signal in Live Interviews

1. Clarifying Problem Understanding

Candidates can ask AI:

• Definitions

• Terminology explanations

• Syntax reminders

This reduces bias toward:

• Native speakers

• Candidates who memorize textbook terms

• People who speak confidently but understand less

Signal Gains:

You see how the candidate restates the problem, not just how they remember it.

2. Brainstorming Alternative Approaches

AI can provide:

• Outline-level guidance

• Examples of patterns

• Ideas to compare

The real signal is how the candidate evaluates the suggestions.

Ask:

Which of these options would you choose and why?

This reveals tradeoff awareness.

3. Organizing Their Communication

AI helps candidates:

• Structure their explanation

• Reduce rambling

• Speak more clearly

This benefits:

• Neurodivergent candidates

• Early-career candidates

• Non-native English speakers

Note:

Clarity is not evidence of competence.
Reasoning still must be tested.

When Allowing AI Backfires

1. Generating Full Coding Solutions

If AI writes the code:

• There is no signal of debugging ability

• There is no demonstration of decision-making

• You measure only copy-paste speed

What to do instead:

Ask follow-ups that reveal understanding:

If we doubled input size, where would performance break?

Authentic engineers can answer.
Copy-paste cannot.

2. Producing Scripted Behavioral Answers

AI makes it easy to generate:

• Polished leadership stories

• Conflict-resolution narratives

• Perfect feedback cycles

These hide:

• Ownership

• Personal accountability

• Real tradeoff decisions

The fix:
Use change probing:

What surprised you during that project?

Scripted stories rarely include surprises.

3. Assisting Proxy or Background Coaching

This is where integrity collapses.

Common signs:

• Delayed responses of identical pacing

• Candidate never paraphrases

• Answers sound generalized and context-free

Sherlock detects this automatically through:

• Voice identity match

• Behavioral reasoning inference

• Typing pattern continuity

• Background audio model comparison

This prevents fraud without suppressing fair AI use.

The Balanced Interview AI Policy (Copy This)

Allowed:

• Using AI to clarify terminology

• Using AI to outline options

• Using AI to structure explanations

Not Allowed:

• Using AI to generate final answers

• Using AI to produce complete code

• Receiving live coaching during the interview

Candidate Script:

You may use AI as a thinking tool. You must explain your own reasoning and decisions. If AI provides an idea, please describe why you chose it

This sets expectations clearly and neutrally.

How to Measure Whether AI Helped or Hurt the Signal

Do not score:

• Fluency

• Confidence

• Speed

Score:

• Adaptability

• Tradeoff clarity

• Error ownership

• Decision reasoning

If reasoning collapses when constraints change:

• The answer was not truly theirs.

Conclusion

The future of interviewing is not AI-free and not AI-driven.
It is AI-aware.

When candidates:

• Use AI to think better, not to think instead
  You get higher signal and fairer decisions.

With Sherlock AI providing:

• Identity continuity checks

• Real-time reasoning integrity signals
  Interviewers can allow open tools without losing trust in the result.

This is how to hire accurately in the AI era.