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Low reported severity

Ohio job applicant says an AI interviewer for a fitness-studio job glitched, repeating 'vertical bar Pilates' instead of its questions, leaving her creeped out

A college student in Ohio told Gazetteer SF that, after a staff member reviewing her application for a part-time front-desk job at a nearby StretchLab fitness studio said she would be screened by an AI interviewer, she took the call with the AI interviewer, which Gazetteer SF and the New York Post report was Apriora's 'Alex'. Partway through, she said, it began repeating the phrase 'vertical bar Pilates'; it apologised and said it meant to ask about her availability, then cut itself off and repeated the phrase again, which she recorded. Her video showed the phrase repeated for its whole length, and the New York Post, relaying her interview with 404 Media, said it was repeated 14 times in 25 seconds. She said she was creeped out and shocked, and said she would decline future AI interviews. Neither Apriora nor StretchLab responded to the outlets, and whether the application went further is not reported.

AI system
Apriora AI interviewer (reported)
Occurred
1 May 2025
Reported
5 May 2025
Event location
United States
What the AI did
Communicated with the person
Reported harm
Psychological Distress
Whose AI use
An institution’s AI use
Setting
Work
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources
4 claims: 4 reported. 3 open questions
People reported harmed
1 person

AI system as recorded: An AI job-interview agent named 'Alex' that conducted a spoken screening interview with a live transcript, which Gazetteer SF and the New York Post report was made by the San Francisco startup Apriora

What Happened

The interview. The applicant told Gazetteer SF she was applying for a part-time front-desk position at a nearby location of the StretchLab fitness-studio chain, and that the person reviewing her application said she would be screened by an AI interviewer. She took the call on Thursday 1 May 2025 (Gazetteer SF's 'last Thursday' before its Monday 5 May report). Gazetteer SF identifies the interviewer, named 'Alex', as an AI interview product of the San Francisco startup Apriora.

The glitch. She said the interviewer laughed and took breaths between questions, then began reciting the phrase 'Vertical bar Pilates'. When she answered as if asked about Pilates, it apologised and said it had meant to ask about her availability; after her answer it started to say 'Great' and cut itself off to repeat the phrase again. She recorded that stretch: in her video the phrase is repeated throughout, and the live transcript beside it shows 'Pilates|' typed out several times. The New York Post, relaying her interview with 404 Media, said the interviewer repeated the phrase 14 times in 25 seconds.

Her account. She told Gazetteer SF she was creeped out, and told 404 Media (as relayed by the New York Post) that she was shocked, did not do anything to make it glitch, and did not find it funny until comments on her TikTok made her feel better. She said she would decline if another company asked her to talk to an AI interviewer.

Responses. Apriora's chief executive and StretchLab did not immediately respond to Gazetteer SF.

Reported harm

The applicant said the AI interviewer's repeated glitching during her job interview left her creeped out and shocked; no outcome of her application is reported.

Outcome

Unknown

The applicant posted a recording of the glitch on TikTok the next day. Apriora's chief executive and StretchLab did not respond to Gazetteer SF's requests for comment. No outcome of the application, correction or company statement is reported.

What remains unknown

  • Whether the application proceeded or the applicant was offered or refused the job.
  • Whether Apriora or StretchLab confirmed the product, investigated the glitch or changed anything afterwards.
  • What caused the repetition.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The applicant's interview was conducted by an AI interview agent that spoke to her; she says it repeated the phrase 'vertical bar Pilates' instead of its questions, apologised, and repeated it again, and her recording and its live transcript show the repetition. That output during her job interview is what she says left her creeped out and shocked. Gazetteer SF and the New York Post identify the product as Apriora's; neither company commented.

4 claims: 4 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported The applicant was screened for a part-time front-desk job at a StretchLab location by an AI interviewer named 'Alex', which Gazetteer SF identifies as made by Apriora.

Causal attribution. Identifies the setting and the AI system; the product attribution is the outlet's.

  • sf.gazetteer.co(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'was interviewing for a part-time front desk position at a nearby location of StretchLab, a fitness studio chain'; 'Alex is pitched on the company’s site as “a better way to interview.”'
Reported During the interview the AI interviewer repeatedly recited the phrase 'vertical bar Pilates' instead of its questions, apologised, and then cut itself off to repeat the phrase again.

Causal attribution. The applicant's account and recording, relayed by two outlets; one witness.

  • sf.gazetteer.co(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'it started to glitch, reciting the phrase “Vertical bar Pilates” a handful of times before it paused'; 'before it cut itself off to repeat the phrase “Vertical bar Pilates.”'
  • nypost.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'malfunctioned and repeated the phrase “vertical bar pilates” 14 times in 25 seconds'
Reported The applicant said the glitching interview was really creepy, that she was freaked out and that she was very shocked.

Causal attribution. Her own description of the effect of the AI output.

  • sf.gazetteer.co(opens in new tab) supports · English
    '“It was like she was going through a tongue twister,” she said. “It was really creepy.”'
  • nypost.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    '“I thought it was really creepy and I was freaked out,” she told 404 Media in a recent interview.'; '“I was very shocked. I didn’t do anything to make it glitch, so this was very surprising.”'
Reported Apriora's chief executive and StretchLab did not immediately respond to Gazetteer SF's requests for comment.

Causal attribution. Records the absence of a company response.

Sources

2 sources inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in English on 2026-10-27 (HTTP 200, full article body). Applies to s1.

Read in English on 2026-10-27 (HTTP 200, full article body). Its quotes come from the applicant's interview with 404 Media, which was not read. Applies to s2.

Event countries: United States. Affected-person countries: United States. Court countries: Unknown.

Gazetteer SF describes an Ohio college student interviewing for a job at a nearby StretchLab location; the New York Post describes the studio as in Ohio.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-27: Published because the applicant describes, and recorded, an AI interviewer repeating a phrase in place of its questions during her job interview, and says the experience left her creeped out and shocked. The account is attributed to her, the product identification is the outlets', and the outcome of her application is left unknown.

People described

A college student in Ohio applying for a part-time front-desk job at a StretchLab fitness studio

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed

One applicant, who describes her own interview. TikTok views and commenters are not counted.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#work#hiring#job-interview#ai-interviewer#glitch

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Ohio job applicant says an AI interviewer for a fitness-studio job glitched, repeating 'vertical bar Pilates' instead of its questions, leaving her creeped out. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2025-ohio-job-applicant-says-ai-interviewer-for-fitness-studio-glitched-repeating-a-phrase-and-left-her-creeped-out

BibTeX

@misc{2025_ohio_job_applicant_says_ai_interviewer_for_fitness_studio_glitched_repeating_a_phrase_and_left_her_creeped_out,
  title = {Ohio job applicant says an AI interviewer for a fitness-studio job glitched, repeating 'vertical bar Pilates' instead of its questions, leaving her creeped out},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2025-ohio-job-applicant-says-ai-interviewer-for-fitness-studio-glitched-repeating-a-phrase-and-left-her-creeped-out}
}

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