Some programmers now get interviewed by an AI. Here's how it works

What happened

HackerRank, a company that tests job seekers who write software, has released an AI interviewer called Chakra. It ran more than 500,000 interviews while it was being tested, with companies like Snowflake and Capgemini. The candidate works on a real coding task while the AI watches and asks follow-up questions. One session replaces three rounds: a recruiter call, a take-home test and a talk with an engineer. People still make the final hiring call.

What's actually going on

Chakra runs on a language model. That's a program trained on huge amounts of writing, so it can read, write and hold a conversation. Here it plays the interviewer.

While you work, it asks why you chose one approach over another, or how your answer would change if the problem changed. Then it scores you on things like judgment, critical thinking and something HackerRank calls "AI fluency."

That last part is the twist. Candidates get an AI helper inside the test, and how they use it is part of the score. The test checks how well you explain the problem to the AI, judge what it gives back, and steer it to a fix. In other words, HackerRank assumes the job itself now involves working with AI.

AI hiring tools have a known weak spot: they can pick up bias from the data and rules they're built on. That's why New York City requires bias audits for some automated hiring tools, and requires employers to tell candidates when they use them.

In your life

For now this is one company and mostly software jobs. If you or your kids work in tech, expect to meet it. For everyone else, it's a preview of where hiring could go.

Be careful about

You may not know how the AI is scoring you. If an employer uses one, ask who makes the final decision and how the AI's score is used. You're allowed to ask.

Where to get it

Nothing to sign up for. Employers choose it. If you're job hunting in tech, practice explaining your thinking out loud while you work, and practice checking an AI helper's answers.