Questions to Ask Before an AI Interview

Before starting an AI interview, ask who makes the hiring decision, what the system evaluates, how your recording and derived data will be used, and what alternative or appeal process exists. Proceed when the employer gives specific answers and identifies a meaningful human-review route. Pause or escalate when nobody can explain the decision-maker, data recipients, retention period, or accommodation process.

Key takeaways

• Ask whether the AI supports a recruiter or can screen you out, and whether a person reviews every submission before a decision.
• Find out whether the assessment scores job-related answers and skills or analyzes facial movement, voice, accent, timing, eye contact, or other behavioral signals.
• Request the assessment provider’s privacy notice and ask about collection, vendor access, transfers, retention, deletion, and model-training reuse.
• Ask who handles accommodations, alternative formats, corrections, and challenges to an automated decision.
• Proceed when the answers are concrete; pause when the employer cannot identify responsibility or explain how you can obtain human reconsideration.

An AI interview or AI assessment is a hiring process that uses software to collect, analyze, rank, or summarize information about a candidate. It may take the form of a one-way video interview, voice assessment, chatbot conversation, game-based test, automated skills test, or a tool that assists a recruiter. “AI-assisted” does not tell you how much authority the system has, so your first task is to establish whether it merely organizes information or can materially affect your candidacy.

1. Ask who reviews the result

Start with the decision path, not the software brand. A useful question is: “At what stage can this tool affect my candidacy, and who makes the final decision?” A system that summarizes an interview for a recruiter raises different concerns from one that rejects applicants before a recruiter sees their answers.

New York City’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection defines automated employment decision tools broadly enough to include systems that substantially assist or replace discretionary screening. Its candidate-notice requirements also include the qualifications or characteristics assessed and instructions for requesting a reasonable accommodation. That supports asking for both the assessment criteria and the person responsible for interpreting them. You can read the agency’s explanation of covered tools and notices here.

“Human review” should mean more than a recruiter seeing a score after the system has already rejected you. The Information Commissioner’s Office reports that recruitment can involve solely automated decisions and says meaningful human involvement should be applied consistently. Its recruitment findings also emphasize that candidates should be able to challenge an automated decision and obtain human review. Read the ICO’s findings on fair and responsible automation in recruitment.

Ask these follow-ups before you click Start:

1. Does the tool automatically reject, rank, or filter candidates, or does it only provide information to a recruiter?
2. Does a person review every submission, or only submissions that the system flags?
3. What evidence does the reviewer see: the full recording, transcript, answers, score, or only a recommendation?
4. If I believe the result is wrong, how do I request reconsideration, and who reviews that request?
5. Can the recruiter consider my application without relying on the automated score?

For example, “A recruiter reviews the full transcript and can disregard the score” is a meaningful answer. “The system helps us identify strong candidates” is not. If the employer cannot identify the decision-maker or explain the review stage, treat that uncertainty as a reason to pause and ask again in writing.

2. Ask what the assessment actually scores

Do not accept vague labels such as “communication,” “culture fit,” or “professional presence” without asking what those labels mean in practice. The central question is: “Does the assessment evaluate my job-related answers and skills only, or does it infer traits from my voice, face, accent, timing, eye contact, or movements?”

The distinction matters because a recorded video interview may involve more than the content of your answers. EEOC guidance warns that algorithmic tools can screen out qualified applicants with disabilities and discusses tools that evaluate recorded video interviews, facial expression, voice, or other movements. That does not tell you that every tool uses those signals; it tells you to ask whether this one does.

Request a plain-language list of inputs and outputs. Inputs might include your typed response, spoken answer, video, transcript, response time, or test interactions. Outputs might include a score, ranking, recommendation, transcript, or flag. Also ask which inputs are required for the hiring decision and which are collected merely because the platform can collect them.

A practical example: suppose the invitation says you will answer three behavioral questions on video. You could write: “Will the decision be based on the substance of my answers, or does the system also analyze facial expression, eye contact, vocal characteristics, accent, pauses, or response speed? If those signals are analyzed, what job-related evidence shows they are relevant to this role?” That question is specific without assuming the employer acted improperly.

You may also ask whether the assessment has been tested for accessibility and whether the employer offers another way to demonstrate the same skill. If the job requires written analysis, for instance, ask whether a text-based response can measure that skill instead of a timed video response. Keep the focus on accuracy: the format should measure the ability the employer says it needs.

3. Ask how your data will be used

A consent button rarely explains the entire data lifecycle. Ask what is collected, where it is stored, who receives it, how long it is retained, how it is deleted, and whether it can be reused. Request the privacy notice for the assessment provider, not only the employer’s general privacy policy.

The ICO describes recruitment cases in which responsibility for informing candidates was unclear between the employer and the AI provider, leaving processing insufficiently explained. Save the invitation, consent screen, privacy notice, and assessment instructions before completing the interview. These records help you identify what you were told and whom to contact later.

For video or voice assessments, ask directly whether the provider creates biometric information or a derived template. Then ask for the deletion date and whether the provider may reuse the recording, transcript, voice characteristics, facial information, or derived data for model improvement, testing, research, or other employers.

The Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act provides a concrete example of the questions that matter: notice of biometric collection or storage, the specific purpose and term of use, and a retention or destruction policy. Its requirements apply within a particular legal framework, so do not assume they apply to every candidate or employer. The broader lesson is still useful: ask for purpose, duration, disclosure, and deletion rather than accepting “we take privacy seriously.”

Use this data checklist:

• What personal data, recordings, transcripts, scores, and derived information are collected?
• Does a vendor or subcontractor receive the material, and in which locations is it stored or processed?
• How long is each type of data retained, and what event starts the deletion period?
• Can the provider use my submission to train, test, improve, or develop its models?
• Is the data reused for another vacancy, another employer, or a future hiring campaign?
• How can I request deletion, correction, or a copy of information associated with my assessment?

A clear answer might name the provider, explain the retention period, distinguish the recording from the score, and identify the deletion contact. A vague answer such as “data may be kept as needed” leaves important decisions unresolved. Ask the employer to point to the relevant paragraph in the provider’s notice rather than relying on a verbal assurance.

4. Ask about accommodations, alternatives, and appeals

An alternative format is a reasonable preparation question, not necessarily an accusation that the employer’s process is unlawful. You can ask: “If this format does not measure my ability accurately, whom should I contact to request an alternative or accommodation, and will that request be handled separately from the hiring score?”

EEOC materials state that employers may need to provide a reasonable accommodation, including an alternative testing format, when an AI assessment inaccurately evaluates an applicant because of a disability. The appropriate process can depend on the employer, role, location, and circumstances, so ask early rather than waiting until a failed attempt creates confusion.

Possible alternatives are not limited to “skip the interview.” Depending on what the assessment measures, you might ask about a text response, a human-led interview, additional time, an accessible interface, a different way to complete a skills exercise, or permission to use an assistive technology. Do not prescribe an accommodation you do not need; explain the barrier and ask what equivalent format is available.

Also ask what happens if the system records something incorrectly. A transcription error, missing response, technical failure, or accessibility issue should have a correction route. Ask whether you can review the transcript or report a malfunction, whether a technical problem can be excluded from scoring, and whether a person will assess the underlying answer.

You can send this message before beginning:

Before I begin, could you confirm whether a human reviews the submission, what information the assessment analyzes, how long the recording and any derived data are retained, whether the provider uses it for model improvement, and what alternative format or accommodation process is available?

If you need an accommodation, add a direct sentence: “I would like to discuss an alternative format because this assessment format may not measure my abilities accurately. Please tell me whom to contact and whether my request will be kept separate from the hiring score.” Keep the tone factual and professional. You are asking how to demonstrate your qualifications accurately.

Use the answers to make a decision

You do not need a perfect privacy policy to make a practical decision, but you do need enough information to understand the risk and the route for correction. Proceed when the employer can identify the decision-maker, explain what is scored, name the data recipients, state the retention approach, and provide a human-review or accommodation contact.

Pause before submitting when the invitation relies on unexplained “fit” scoring, refuses to say whether the tool can reject candidates, or directs every question back to an unnamed vendor. Escalate to the recruiter, hiring manager, accessibility contact, or privacy contact listed in the notice. Ask for answers in writing and save the response.

If you decide to continue, prepare for the assessment on its own terms. Confirm the deadline, test your microphone and camera if video is required, read the instructions carefully, and keep a copy of the questions you were asked. For broader technical checks, this video interview checklist for Zoom, Teams, and Meet covers practical setup issues. For questions you want to ask a recruiter after the assessment, see best questions to ask the interviewer by category.

The goal is not to reject every AI-assisted interview. It is to establish whether the process measures relevant qualifications, explains its data practices, and gives you a real way to correct an error or request an alternative. Four questions—who decides, what is scored, what happens to the data, and what options exist—turn a vague invitation into a process you can evaluate before you submit personal information.