{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-27T06:49:47.098Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"glitch","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"core","evidence":"","year":"2025","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":1,"coverage":{"cases":1,"countries":1,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":0,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"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":"2025-ohio-job-applicant-says-ai-interviewer-for-fitness-studio-glitched-repeating-a-phrase-and-left-her-creeped-out","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'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.”'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"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."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'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.”'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'malfunctioned and repeated the phrase “vertical bar pilates” 14 times in 25 seconds'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"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."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'“It was like she was going through a tongue twister,” she said. “It was really creepy.”'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'“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.”'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"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."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment from Gazetteer.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"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."}],"effects":[{"label":"Applicant creeped out and shocked by the glitching AI interviewer","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://sf.gazetteer.co/college-students-job-interview-goes-tiktok-viral-as-creepy-ai-interviewer-goes-haywire","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-27 (HTTP 200, full article body).","independence_group":"gazetteer-sf-2025-05-05"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://nypost.com/2025/05/13/tech/ai-job-interview-spirals-into-dystopian-disturbing-glitch-i-was-freaked-out/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"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.","independence_group":"404media-applicant-interview-2025-05"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["institutional_use"],"contexts":["work"],"unknowns":["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."],"geography":{"basis":"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.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["US"],"affected_person_countries":["US"]},"publication":{"basis":"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.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-27"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"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.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"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","summary":"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.","incidentDate":"2025-05-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2025-05-05","aiSystem":"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","aiProduct":"Apriora AI interviewer (reported)","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["psychological_distress"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"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.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One applicant, who describes her own interview. TikTok views and commenters are not counted.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"US","platformType":"other","outcomeStatus":"unknown","primarySourceUrl":"https://sf.gazetteer.co/college-students-job-interview-goes-tiktok-viral-as-creepy-ai-interviewer-goes-haywire","primarySourceLabel":"Gazetteer SF, 5 May 2025: College student's job interview goes TikTok-viral as 'creepy' AI interviewer goes haywire","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-27T03:12:50.575924+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-27T03:12:50.575924+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["work","hiring","job-interview","ai-interviewer","glitch","institutional-use"]}]}