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is AI interviewing a scam or legitimate

If you just got an AI interview link and your first thought was "is this real," that is a fair instinct. You are evaluating a stranger asking for your time, your video, and your voice. Here is the honest answer, written for candidates who want to know what they are actually walking into.

Tl;dr

Real AI interview platforms exist and are used by real companies. They are not all the same. A serious platform tells you What it does, What data it collects, Who sees it, and How long it stays. The rest of this post is what to look for, and what to walk away from.


Why this question is fair

A stranger sent you a link, asked for video and audio, and you have no idea what is on the other side. That is a reasonable thing to want clarity on. You are not being paranoid. You are being a good evaluator of risk, which is the same thing a hiring team is doing when they evaluate you.

You do not need to take anyone's word for it, and you do not need a technical background to figure out whether something is legitimate. You can check. The rest of this post is the checklist.


What an AI interview actually is

An AI interview is a structured conversation. An AI asks behavioral questions, you respond, and sometimes it asks a follow up based on what you said. It is not a chatbot quiz, and it is not a personality test dressed up in a webcam.

On aperture, it runs about 15 Minutes in your browser. There is no install, no proctoring software watching your eyes, and no extension to add. It is the same browser you use every day, with a microphone and a camera you control.


Why companies use it

The short version is Scale and consistency. A recruiter cannot give every candidate a 15 minute structured interview. There is not enough time in the day. So historically, most candidates never got a real conversation. They got rejected by an ATS keyword filter or a 30 second resume skim before a human ever heard their voice.

Used well, AI interviewing flips that. Every candidate gets a structured conversation. People who would have been auto rejected for not having the right keywords on their resume actually get a chance to show what they can do. That is the legitimate use case, and it is why serious companies are adopting it.


How to tell a serious platform from a sketchy one

Most of this is common sense. You are looking for the same signals you would look for on any website asking for your information.

Signs of a legitimate platform

A clear privacy and data policy you can actually read
A real company with a real website you can find
Support you can email and get a human reply from
A clear explanation of what the platform evaluates and how
No pressure to install software or browser extensions
Runs in a normal browser with permissions you control

What to watch out for

The inverse of the above. If you see any of these, slow down and verify before continuing.

Red flags

No contact information anywhere on the platform or in the email
Urgent or threatening tone, deadlines measured in hours
A request to install something unusual to take the interview
Any request for payment, banking details, or government id at this stage
Vague or missing privacy information
A recruiter or company you cannot independently verify online

How aperture treats candidates

This is what aperture does, in plain language, so you know what you are walking into if a company invites you to interview here.

What to expect on aperture

Runs in chrome or firefox on a desktop or laptop, full requirements on the System requirements page
Evaluation does not see your name, accent, gaps, or resume formatting
you can reach a real human at [email protected] with questions
Scores trace back to specific evidence in your responses, not vibes
No surveillance software, no proctoring extension, no install
aperture screens and ranks, humans at the company decide

If any of that does not match what a platform is asking of you, it is reasonable to ask why before continuing. Legitimate platforms will tell you. That is the simplest test there is.

Published april 26, 2026 by aperture team 7 Min read

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