First-person post: job applicant says an AI interviewer for an online tutoring company kept interrupting their answers, so they quit the interview
In a Reddit post on 21 October 2026, a job applicant writes that a first-round interview for an online tutoring company, attended by appointment, turned out to be conducted by an AI. The poster says the AI interrupted them at least three times for every question it asked, that they ended up yelling at the computer in case they were not speaking loudly enough, and that after 13 minutes of an interview billed at eight to ten minutes they had answered only a handful of questions. The poster says they closed the tab and sent the company contact an angry email. The company, the interview tool and any reply from the company are not named or reported. The account is uncorroborated.
- AI system
- Unidentified AI job-interview tool
- Occurred
- Oct 2026
- Reported
- 21 October 2026
- Event location
- Unknown
- 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 · 1 source
- 4 claims: 4 reported. 4 open questions
- People reported harmed
- 1 person
AI system as recorded: An AI interviewer that, by the poster's account, an online tutoring company used to conduct a first-round job interview by computer, asking questions and interrupting the applicant's answers
What Happened
The interview. The poster writes that "Monday I had an interview with an online tutoring company" and that, after booking an appointment for the first round, they "get instructions there that the interview would be conducted by an AI."
The interruptions. The poster writes that the AI "KEPT INTERRUPTING ME LIKE AT LEAST THREE TIMES FOR EVERY QUESTION IT ASKED", and: "I thought maybe I wasn't speaking loud enough so I got to the point that I was yelling at my computer."
Ending it. The poster says the company described the interview as taking eight to ten minutes with a 20-minute maximum, and that "By minute thirteen I had only answered a handful of questions and the AI kept interrupting me." The poster says they then "closed the tab and sent an email to the contact of the company", an angry one objecting to the AI.
Limits. The post does not name the company or the interview tool, does not say where the poster or the company is located, and reports no reply from the company or outcome of the application. The account of the AI's behaviour is the poster's own; no recording or screenshot is attached.
Reported harm
The poster says an AI interviewer kept interrupting their answers in a first-round job interview, leaving them yelling at the computer and angry enough to abandon the interview (first-person account, uncorroborated).
How Harm Occurred
By the poster's account, the AI interviewer an employer used for a first-round job interview repeatedly cut off the applicant's answers, so the applicant could answer only a few questions, became angry and abandoned the interview.
Outcome
UnknownThe poster says they abandoned the interview after 13 minutes and emailed the company contact to object. No reply from the company and no outcome of the application are reported.
What remains unknown
- Which company and which interview tool were involved.
- Whether the interruptions came from the AI system's turn-taking or from the poster's audio set-up.
- Whether the company replied to the poster's email or considered the application further.
- The exact day of the interview, which the post places in the week of 19 October 2026 without fixing it.
What the evidence supports
AI involvement: reported. The poster says the company's instructions stated that the interview would be conducted by an AI, and describes the AI asking questions and repeatedly interrupting the poster's answers. The poster connects those interruptions to answering only a few questions in 13 minutes, yelling at the computer and abandoning the interview. The tool is not named and no recording is attached.
4 claims: 4 reported. What the statuses mean
Reported The poster says a first-round job interview with an online tutoring company, attended by appointment, turned out to be conducted by an AI.
Causal attribution. Poster's account.
- reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
Monday I had an interview with an online tutoring company ... Then I show up for the interview and get instructions there that the interview would be conducted by an AI.
Reported The poster says the AI interrupted them at least three times for every question it asked, and that they ended up yelling at the computer in case they were not speaking loudly enough.
Causal attribution. Poster's account of the AI's behaviour; no recording or screenshot is attached.
- reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
AI KEPT INTERRUPTING ME LIKE AT LEAST THREE TIMES FOR EVERY QUESTION IT ASKED. I thought maybe I wasn't speaking loud enough so I got to the point that I was yelling at my computer.
Reported The poster says the interview was billed at eight to ten minutes with a 20-minute maximum, and that by minute 13 they had answered only a handful of questions while the AI kept interrupting.
Causal attribution. Poster's account.
- reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
They said it would only take eight to ten minutes, but the max time allowed was twenty minutes. By minute thirteen I had only answered a handful of questions and the AI kept interrupting me.
Reported The poster says they closed the tab and sent the company contact an angry email objecting to the AI.
Causal attribution. Poster's account; no reply from the company is reported.
- reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
closed the tab and sent an email to the contact of the company telling her where she could put her AI
Sources
1 source inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.
- Reddit post by the applicant, 21 Oct 2026: AI interviewer kept interrupting, so the applicant quit(opens in new tab)
s1 · reddit.com · Social media post · English · Inspected · 21 October 2026 · Primary
How the sources were read, and where the events happened
Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-22 from Reddit's public RSS feeds (r/recruitinghell new-posts feed and the post's comments feed, HTTP 200); reddit.com JSON pages and the arctic_shift archive returned HTTP 403 and 500 to the fetcher. No translation and no human reviewer. The poster's username is not recorded. Original post, 18:40 UTC 21 Oct 2026; post and comments feed read about 03:12 UTC 22 Oct. Applies to s1.
Event countries: Unknown. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: Unknown.
The post does not say where the poster or the tutoring company is located, and the interview was held online.
Reviewed for publication 2026-10-22: Published under the public-forum rule as a concrete first-person account of an AI interviewer, used by an employer for a first-round job interview, repeatedly interrupting an applicant who then abandoned the interview. The account is attributed and uncorroborated, and the company and tool are not identified.
People described
The poster, a job applicant interviewing with an online tutoring company (age, gender and country not stated)
People reported harmed in this case
1 person
1 AI participant · 0 other people harmed
One person: the poster, who was interviewed by the AI system. No other applicant is described.
Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.
Cite this case
Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.
APA
NOPE. (2026). First-person post: job applicant says an AI interviewer for an online tutoring company kept interrupting their answers, so they quit the interview. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-job-applicant-says-ai-interviewer-for-online-tutoring-company-kept-interrupting-so-they-abandoned-interview-first-person
BibTeX
@misc{2026_job_applicant_says_ai_interviewer_for_online_tutoring_company_kept_interrupting_so_they_abandoned_interview_first_person,
title = {First-person post: job applicant says an AI interviewer for an online tutoring company kept interrupting their answers, so they quit the interview},
author = {NOPE},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {AI incidents},
url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-job-applicant-says-ai-interviewer-for-online-tutoring-company-kept-interrupting-so-they-abandoned-interview-first-person}
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