{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-13T07:09:05.363Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"early-childhood-education","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"","evidence":"","year":"unknown","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":1,"coverage":{"cases":1,"countries":1,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":0,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":1,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":0,"minors":0,"coreRelations":1,"contextualRelations":0,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":0,"relationPending":0,"relationUnknown":0},"countingNote":"Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.","affectedCountNote":"Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.","source":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2026-australia-preschool-job-applicant-ai-interviewer-ended-session-when-she-paused-withdrew-application-first-person","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'I applied for a preschool education role and experienced a first: being interviewed by AI'; 'it was at a sessional kindergarten managed by a not-for-profit'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The author says she applied for a preschool education role at a sessional kindergarten managed by a not-for-profit, was shortlisted, and was interviewed by an AI assistant.","causal_attribution":"Author's first-person account; the employer is not named and did not respond."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'so I did just that – and I was booted off the interview entirely. As I clicked the link once more to restart the interview'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The author says that when she paused to think about a question, the AI interview ended her session and she had to restart it.","causal_attribution":"Author's account of the system's behaviour; no recording or log was published."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'they were all answered with regurgitations from the job ad. For any clarification, the AI said, I would need to have a conversation with a manager'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The author says the AI answered her questions about the role with text from the job advertisement and told her to speak with a manager for clarification.","causal_attribution":"Author's account."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'I felt degraded'; 'I ultimately decided to withdraw my application and emailed the organisation to tell them precisely why. It has been over a month and I have received no response'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The author says she felt degraded, withdrew her application by email explaining why, and had received no response after more than a month.","causal_attribution":"Author attributes her withdrawal to the AI interview experience; the employer's view is not reported."}],"effects":[{"label":"removed from her job interview by the AI interviewer when she paused to think, and had to restart it (author's account)","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"},{"label":"felt degraded and withdrew her application; no response from the employer after more than a month (author's account)","claim_id":"c4","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/oct/13/dystopian-and-dehumanising-thats-what-it-felt-like-when-i-was-interviewed-by-an-ai-assistant","kind":"opinion","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-13 from theguardian.com (HTTP 200); full column text inspected, no translation and no human reviewer.","independence_group":"guardian-nguyen-ai-interview-column"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["institutional_use"],"contexts":["work"],"unknowns":["The employer, the interview tool and its vendor.","When the interview took place: the column of 12 October 2026 says only 'recently' and that more than a month had passed since she withdrew.","Whether the employer would have had a person review the recording or hold a later interview with a person.","Whether the employer received or answered her withdrawal email.","Whether the system dropped her because of the pause or for another reason, such as a technical fault; the column reports the two in sequence."],"geography":{"basis":"The author ties the kindergarten role to 'the ongoing childcare crisis in Australia' when explaining why outsourcing recruitment of this role is wrong, which places the job and its recruitment in Australia. Her own residence is not stated and is not inferred.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["AU"],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a concrete first-person account by the named author of a national newspaper opinion column, describing what an AI job-interview tool did during her interview and the distress and withdrawal she attributes to it, with attribution and without corroboration. The employer is not named.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-13"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The author describes the AI assistant's own conduct in her interview: a voice that asked her questions, ended the session when she paused to think, and answered her questions with text from the job advertisement. She connects that experience to feeling degraded and to withdrawing her application. The relation recorded is the system's exchange with her during the interview. The tool and its vendor are not named.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"First-person column: preschool job applicant says an AI interviewer booted her off when she paused to think, and she later withdrew her application","summary":"In a Guardian opinion column published on 12 October 2026, writer Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen says she was shortlisted for a preschool education role at a sessional kindergarten run by a not-for-profit and was then interviewed by an AI assistant rather than a person. She says that when she paused to think about a question, the system removed her from the interview and she had to restart it, and that its answers to her questions about the role repeated the job advertisement and referred her to a manager. She describes the experience as dystopian and dehumanising and says she felt degraded. She says she withdrew her application by email, explaining why, and had received no response after more than a month. The employer and the interview tool are not named.","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"unknown","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2026-10-12","aiSystem":"An AI interview assistant used by a not-for-profit kindergarten operator to interview a shortlisted job applicant by video, with a voice that asked questions, ended the session when the applicant paused, and answered her questions with text from the job advertisement","aiProduct":"Unidentified AI job-interview tool","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["psychological_distress"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"A preschool job applicant says an AI interview assistant booted her off the interview when she paused to think and answered her questions with text from the job advertisement, that she felt degraded, and that she withdrew her application (first-person opinion column, uncorroborated).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the author, a job applicant interviewed by a tool the employer chose. She did not choose to use it, so she is counted among other people harmed.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"AU","platformType":"other","outcomeStatus":"unknown","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/oct/13/dystopian-and-dehumanising-thats-what-it-felt-like-when-i-was-interviewed-by-an-ai-assistant","primarySourceLabel":"The Guardian (opinion), 12 Oct 2026: Dystopian and dehumanising: that's what it felt like when I was interviewed by an AI assistant","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-13T03:16:06.539102+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-13T03:16:06.539102+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["first-person","opinion-column","ai-job-interview","recruitment","early-childhood-education"]}]}