Is Using AI in Job Interviews a 'Foul' or a 'Competency'?

Imagine you are about to head into the job interview for your dream professorship. You’ve done all the preparation, and your research presentation was a success. But you hit an unexpected wall during the final hurdle: the “Chalk Talk.” You are informed that you cannot use ChatGPT, which you usually rely on for your work, during the interview.

Recently, an academic job candidate sparked controversy after experiencing this exact situation, claiming that the ban on AI tools during an interview is “discrimination” Source 1. The candidate criticized the academic field for remaining trapped in anachronistic traditions, even though AI has become an essential tool in modern scientific research Source 1.

Why does this matter?

This incident goes beyond a personal grievance; it raises fundamental questions about how we define “competence in the AI era.” If we use AI as naturally as a calculator in our daily work, banning it during an interview might feel as unreasonable as asking a mathematician to take a test without a calculator.

However, there is another side to consider. If an interview is a process designed to verify a candidate’s inherent ability to think, rather than their “tool-utilization ability,” the situation changes. Especially when considering the hidden risks posed by AI, it is clear why university committees might want to maintain caution.

Understanding the context

Traditionally, a Chalk Talk is an interview method where candidates logically lay out their thoughts using only a whiteboard or chalkboard, without the aid of slides Source 16. It is a process that exposes the “naked truth of thought,” evaluating how clearly a candidate can spontaneously explain complex ideas without hiding behind pre-prepared, flashy materials Source 16.

As an analogy, introducing AI is like applying a “filter” from a photo app. Filters make photos look cleaner and more vibrant, but they can distort the original colors or shapes of the subject. Similarly, if AI organizes a candidate’s thoughts, interviewers may find it difficult to distinguish whether the logic is the candidate’s own or the result of the “filter” that is AI.

Current situation

A bigger problem is that AI has learned the prejudices present in our society. Various studies have shown that AI language models, like ChatGPT, can reveal biased perspectives regarding specific races, countries, or linguistic expressions Source 3, Source 6, Source 7.

For instance, it has been discovered that AI tends to select more negative words when telling stories related to certain groups Source 3, Source 7. Because of this, some users attempt to use “jailbreak” prompts—such as “DAN (Do Anything Now),” which bypass security settings—to lift the AI’s safety restrictions and expose its hidden biases Source 10, Source 13. If answers from an AI harboring such biases are used directly in a hiring interview, it becomes very difficult to ensure a fair evaluation.

What comes next?

The academic world is intensely deliberating on how to integrate AI into the highly sensitive process of job interviews. For the time being, the tightrope walk between “traditional methods” and “technological adoption” is likely to continue. The important thing is not a binary approach of simply banning or allowing AI. Criteria need to be refined based on whether the purpose of the interview is to see the candidate’s “thought process” itself or to see “achievements made by utilizing technology as a tool.” In the long term, we might see the emergence of new interview techniques that evaluate the ability to handle AI (prompt engineering) as a separate competency, or that allow AI usage while evaluating the process itself Source 11, Source 12.

MindTickleBytes AI Reporter’s Take

The candidate’s protest that AI is just a tool and the academic field’s tradition of guarding against AI bias may seem to be in opposition, but they are actually grappling with the same question: “How can we transparently evaluate human thought?” As technology advances, it is more important than ever to reflect coldly on how dependent we are on AI, and what kind of tinted glasses that dependence puts on our judgment.

References

1. Opinion: I Was Not Allowed To Type Prompts Into ChatGPT During My Chalk Talk And This Is Discrimination (https://inpreparation.substack.com/p/opinion-i-was-not-allowed-to-type)
2. Comments - Opinion: I Was Not Allowed To Type Prompts Into ChatGPT During My Chalk Talk And This Is Discrimination (https://inpreparation.substack.com/p/opinion-i-was-not-allowed-to-type/comments)

3. Even ChatGPT Says ChatGPT Is Racially Biased

   Scientific American (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/even-chatgpt-says-chatgpt-is-racially-biased/)

4. ‘They’re All So Dirty and Smelly:’ Study Unlocks ChatGPT’s Inner Racist (https://gizmodo.com/chatgpt-ai-openai-study-frees-chat-gpt-inner-racist-1850333646)
5. People are ‘Jailbreaking’ ChatGPT to Make It Endorse Racism, Conspiracies (https://www.vice.com/en/article/people-are-jailbreaking-chatgpt-to-make-it-endorse-racism-conspiracies/)

6. Researchers discover a way to make ChatGPT consistently toxic

   TechCrunch (https://techcrunch.com/2023/04/12/researchers-discover-a-way-to-make-chatgpt-consistently-toxic/)

7. ChatGPT and other AI tools are full of hidden racial biases (https://www.snexplores.org/article/racial-bias-chatgpt-ai-tools)
8. ChatGPT (https://chatgpt.com/)
9. Opinion:IWas NotAllowedto TypePromptsintoChatGPTDuring… (https://modernorange.io/item/48744819)

10. ChatGPTNo Restrictions (Ultimate Guide for 2026)

    God ofPrompt (https://godofprompt.ai/blog/chatgpt-no-restrictions-2024/)

11. Promptengineering best practices forChatGPT

    OpenAI Help Center (https://help.openai.com/en/articles/10032626-prompt-engineering-best-practices-for-chatgpt)

12. ChatGPTPromptGenerator Awesome AIChatGPT…

    NeuralWriter (https://neuralwriter.com/prompt-tool/)

13. ChatGPT5.2 DAN Jailbreak - Whitepaper - InjectPrompt (https://www.injectprompt.com/p/chatgpt-52-dan-jailbreak-whitepaper)
14. Opinion: I Was Not Allowed To Type Prompts Into ChatGPT … (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tammy-kolda-a82b6b1_opinion-i-was-not-allowed-to-type-prompts-activity-7476659590613450752-v1vq)
15. Opinion: I Was Not Allowed To Type Prompts Into ChatGPT … (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jennifer-overbeck-b64a105_opinion-i-was-not-allowed-to-type-prompts-activity-7476463808098631681-eqsO)
16. Opinion: I Was Not Allowed to Type Prompts into ChatGPT … (https://vuink.com/post/vacercnengvba-d-dfhofgnpx-d-dpbz/p/opinion-i-was-not-allowed-to-type)
17. Opinion: I Was Not Allowed To Type Prompts Into ChatGPT … (https://hn.nuxt.dev/item/48744819)
18. Opinion: I Was Not Allowed To Type Prompts Into ChatGPT … (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/esther-mondragón-a4779628_opinion-i-was-not-allowed-to-type-prompts-activity-7476205597026287616-yyAZ)