AI Interview Disclosure by State: Your 2026 Rights

There is no single nationwide 2026 right to know whenever an employer uses AI in recruiting. Your options depend on where you live, where the job is based, what the system analyzes, how its output affects selection, and whether the relevant rule is already effective. Illinois has a specific consent rule for AI-analyzed recorded video interviews; New York City has a local notice regime; Colorado’s broader framework mostly begins in 2027; and federal employment-testing rules still address discrimination and accommodation.

Key takeaways

• Illinois requires advance notice, a general explanation, and consent before a covered employer uses AI to evaluate a recorded video interview.
• New York City requires notice for covered automated employment decision tools, including the qualifications or characteristics assessed, generally at least 10 business days before use.
• Colorado’s 2026 law creates broader duties for covered systems that materially influence consequential decisions, but most operational requirements begin January 1, 2027.
• Federal employment-testing protections still apply to AI-enabled selection tools, even though there is no universal federal AI-disclosure right.
• Ask what the system analyzes, what it evaluates, whether it affects advancement, and what alternative, accommodation, or human-review process exists.
• Save the invitation, job posting, notice, consent screen, timestamps, employer responses, and any adverse-decision message.

An automated employment decision tool, or AEDT, is software that uses automated processing to help assess applicants or employees. It might transcribe an answer, score a recorded video, rank candidates, recommend who advances, or materially influence a hiring decision. A scheduling chatbot and a system that determines which applicants proceed are not necessarily treated alike. The practical test is: what does the system analyze, what does it produce, and how does that output affect selection?

Start with the tool, location, and effective date

Before completing an automated interview or assessment, save the original invitation, job posting, assessment link, privacy notice, consent screen, and deadline. Record the employer or agency, the stated job location, the tool name, and the planned use date. Note whether the activity is a recorded interview, live video call, written assessment, chatbot screen, résumé review, or coding test. A local rule may matter even when there is no comparable statewide requirement, as New York City demonstrates.

Classify the tool’s role before drawing a legal conclusion. A chatbot that collects preliminary information differs from a platform that ranks applicants. A transcription service may assist a human interviewer without scoring anyone. A video system may assess stated characteristics, while another tool may only store the recording. Ask whether the output is descriptive, evaluative, or decision-influencing, and whether a person reviews it before the employer acts.

Use precise questions rather than asking only, “Do you use AI?” Ask whether the process records or transcribes your answers; whether it analyzes video, audio, facial features, written responses, or assessment data; what characteristics it evaluates; and whether the result scores, ranks, recommends, or merely supports a human reviewer. Also ask whether an alternative assessment or accommodation route exists. These questions separate four issues that employers may otherwise combine: AI use, interview analysis, biometric or facial-data creation, and assistance with a hiring decision.

The date matters as much as the location. Enactment, effective date, and deployment date are different milestones. Colorado’s enacted 2026 law is an important upcoming change, but most operational requirements apply beginning January 1, 2027. Check the Colorado General Assembly bill page before describing a future right as an active 2026 requirement.

Coverage can depend on the employer, employment agency, role, tool, job location, candidate location, and hiring activity. A company’s headquarters may not tell you which local rule applies. If the consequences are significant, contact the relevant government agency or an employment lawyer rather than treating a general guide as legal advice.

Illinois: consent for AI-analyzed recorded video interviews

Illinois remains the clearest statewide example in the reviewed sources. Before requesting an applicant’s recorded video interview, a covered employer must disclose that AI may analyze the video, explain how the AI works and the general characteristics it evaluates, and obtain consent. The employer may not use AI to evaluate an applicant who has not consented. These requirements are set out in the Illinois Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act.

The rule is narrower than a right to disclosure of every algorithm used in recruiting. It concerns a recorded video interview submitted by an applicant and analyzed by AI. It does not automatically mean that every ordinary video call, résumé parser, scheduling tool, or transcription service is covered. Ask whether the recording is being evaluated, what general characteristics are considered, and whether the result affects progression.

Illinois applicants should distinguish this applicant-specific video-interview consent rule from the state’s broader 2026 Human Rights Act provisions addressing discriminatory effects of AI in employment. The two issues can overlap, but they answer different questions: one concerns advance notice and consent for a covered recorded interview; the other concerns discriminatory impact and employment rights more broadly. Do not treat a general anti-discrimination notice as a substitute for the specific video-interview information you need.

A practical message is: “Before I complete the recorded interview, please confirm whether AI will analyze my recording, how the AI works at a general level, and the general characteristics it will evaluate. Please also explain the consent process and whether the result affects hiring.” Keep the response, including any statement that the tool is used only for transcription or another non-evaluative function.

If you do not want to consent, ask how to decline and whether another process is available. The consent rule does not automatically establish that an employer must offer every candidate a different interview format, so keep that part of the request factual. Do not assume that declining consent proves the employer must stop the entire hiring process or provide a particular alternative.

A concise Illinois message

Before I complete the recorded interview, please confirm whether AI will analyze my recording, how the analysis works at a general level, and the general characteristics it will evaluate. Please identify the consent process and explain whether the result affects hiring. If I do not consent, please tell me whether another interview process is available.

New York City: notice for covered AEDTs

New York City has a local—not statewide—notice regime. For New York City-resident candidates, an employer or employment agency using a covered automated employment decision tool must provide notice at least 10 business days before use, identify the job qualifications or characteristics assessed, and include instructions for requesting an alternative selection process or accommodation. The New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection FAQ also addresses bias-audit and public-information requirements.

The rule reaches screening before the final hiring decision, not only the interview itself. That makes the phrase “AI interview” potentially misleading: a résumé-ranking system, assessment, or other tool may matter even when no video is recorded. Start by asking whether the employer uses a covered AEDT for the particular job and selection activity, what qualifications or characteristics it assesses, and where the required public information is posted.

A useful NYC workflow is to check the employer’s careers site for the AEDT notice and bias-audit summary, save screenshots or PDFs, record the date of the interview invitation, and ask in writing what tool will be used. Preserve the page as it appeared when you accessed it, because a later website change can make the original notice difficult to locate.

If an employer sends an automated assessment and asks you to complete it tomorrow, save the timestamp and ask when the required notice was provided. Do not conclude from a short email alone that the employer violated the law. First ask whether the tool is covered, what selection activity it supports, and whether the notice identifies the assessed qualifications or characteristics and the alternative-process instructions.

A concise New York City message

Before I complete this assessment, please provide the notice for the automated employment decision tool, including the qualifications and characteristics it will assess, the date it will be used, and instructions for requesting an alternative selection process or accommodation. Please also identify where the required bias-audit information is available.

Colorado: separate 2026 facts from 2027 duties

Colorado’s 2026 framework should not be summarized as a blanket pre-interview disclosure mandate. SB26-189 covers automated decision-making technology used in employment as a consequential decision. The enacted law provides for point-of-interaction and adverse-outcome disclosures, data-correction rights, and meaningful human review, but most operational requirements begin January 1, 2027. Candidates should therefore avoid describing these as fully active 2026 interview-disclosure rights.

The candidate questions will extend beyond “Was AI used?” Ask whether an automated system materially influenced the decision, what personal data it used, whether the data was factually correct, and how to request meaningful human review. After an adverse consequential decision, the framework includes a plain-language explanation of the system’s role within the applicable process. Confirm the effective date and the specific coverage before relying on any one remedy.

For an interview scheduled before the relevant provisions take effect, you can still ask what technology is being used, what data it evaluates, and whether a human reviews the result. Preserve the answer, but distinguish a voluntary transparency request from a statutory demand. Write down three dates: when the law was enacted, when the provision becomes effective, and when the employer deployed or plans to deploy the technology.

Federal baseline: no general disclosure rule, but protections still apply

Federal law does not create a general requirement that employers disclose every use of AI in recruiting. That does not make automated selection unregulated. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s guidance on employment tests and selection procedures treats AI-enabled hiring tools within the broader framework of employment testing and selection, including discrimination, disparate impact, validation, and reasonable accommodation principles.

Candidates can ask for an accessible interview format or alternative assessment when the technology could create a disability-related barrier. A missing AI notice is not automatically proof of unlawful discrimination, and an automated result is not automatically unlawful. Preserve the facts that would let you explain the barrier: the instructions, time limit, format, rejection message, and any accommodation request and response.

If the process creates an access barrier, explain the barrier and request another way to demonstrate the relevant qualifications before the deadline when possible. For example: “The automated interview format creates a barrier for me. I can demonstrate the essential qualifications through a live human interview or written responses. Please tell me whom to contact and whether the deadline can be adjusted.” Follow the employer’s formal accommodation route and save the referral, response, and revised deadline.

A four-question pre-interview check

Before you submit a recording or assessment, ask these questions in writing:

1. Will software analyze my recording, responses, résumé, voice, face, or assessment activity?
2. What characteristics, qualifications, or categories of data will it evaluate?
3. Will the output affect whether I advance, or will a human use it only as support?
4. What alternative process, reasonable accommodation, correction route, or human-review process is available?

This wording avoids assuming that every employer must disclose every algorithm. It asks for the facts needed to identify the tool’s role and the possible remedy. If the answer is vague, follow up with one question at a time: “Is the system scoring my answer or only transcribing it?” “Does a recruiter see the raw recording?” “What happens to the result after the assessment?”

A candidate workflow that creates a useful record

Use this sequence before submitting an automated interview or assessment:

1. Save the job posting, stated job location, interview invitation, privacy notice, consent screen, assessment instructions, and deadline.
2. Record the employer or agency, tool name, planned use date, and whether the activity is recorded, live, written, conversational, or technical.
3. Ask what the system produces: transcription, score, ranking, recommendation, facial or voice analysis, or another output.
4. Ask whether a human reviews the output before a hiring decision and whether the tool can affect progression.
5. Request the purpose, evaluated characteristics, accommodation or alternative-assessment route, and any publicly available audit or notice information that applies.
6. Save the employer’s response with the date, sender, and any link or attachment. Keep screenshots and downloaded notices in their original form.
7. After an adverse result, identify the applicable jurisdiction and ask about any available correction, human-review, accommodation, or reconsideration process.