Student’s AI Prank Lands Him in Hot Water, Starts Online Debate on Cheating for Interviews
A Columbia University undergraduate student majoring in computer science is embroiled in controversy after creating an artificial intelligence (AI) application aimed at circumventing technical interviews at IT corporations. Chungin “Roy” Lee, a Columbia student, maintains that his app got him offers for internships from primary tech firms, but it ultimately led him to face the disciplinary actions of his university.
Interview Coder: Tech Interview AI Solution Tool
An undergraduate in his second year, Lee made headlines for creating an Interview Coder desktop application that enabled him to solve technical coding problems remotely during the interview. He demonstrated his app’s features in a now-removed video where he interned with Amazon. According to his claims, the app was developed in just four days. The application allows users to take screenshots of coding sessions and bypass browsers. Afterward, AI algorithms generate solutions in real time.
The Repercussions of AI Technologies on Assessments
The recent actions of Lee demonstrate the increasing prevalence of generative AI technology and its likely consequences on everything in the world, from academic assignments to employee evaluations. People are using these various tools more frequently to either fill the void in their skills or to augment their abilities, which poses a challenge for modern institutions and employers in determining an individual’s actual level of competence. “I think 99% of people probably haven’t realized how far-reaching this could be,” stated Lee during his interview with NBC news. “In the past, you could have built an invisible desktop assistant, and you also could have used LLMs [large language models] to solve problems. But now that people are putting the two together, I think no form of online assessment is safe.”
Offers Withdrawn, Suspension Enforced
According to Lee, he used Interview Coder to improperly strategize for interviews and subsequently received offers from four major companies, including Amazon, Capital One, Meta, and TikTok. However, he contends that some of these companies later rescinded their offers after he made public his reliance on AI. Columbia University has also taken administrative steps against Lee, which led to a one-year suspension, he claims. A representative from the university chose not to provide details on specific students due to Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act rules.
Company Responses and Ethical Concerns
According to Margaret Callahan, Amazon’s spokesperson, the company does allow applicants to utilize generative AI tools in the application process, but candidates are obligated to affirm that no unapproved tools, including generative AI, will be employed during the interview or the assessment process. No comment was received from Capital One, Meta, or TikTok. Lee’s conduct has stirred a discussion on the ethical ramifications of employing AI to bypass assessments and issues of equity, honesty, and the employment of technology in hiring practices.
Innovation Aspirations and Protests Against LeetCode
Not minding the backlash, Lee continues to market himself as a ‘disruptive’ brand, breaking boundaries as a self-proclaimed warrior against ‘the system.’ He posts what he considers to be emails received from recruiters and other relevant documents pertaining to his disciplinary processes at Columbia University. Lee has gone viral on social media and in particular on X, where his antics seem to command a great deal of sympathy. However, on the other platform where he has also amassed an equally large following, LinkedIn, the responses have been more nuanced, with some users describing his product as “morally corrupt” or “unethical.” As one of the major stakeholders, Lee has said that “I’m not really worried about burning bridges” when discussing the academic world and corporate America as he intends to pursue entrepreneurship. In his words, the claimed actions serve as a protest against what is perceived to be the rampant dependency on LeetCode, an online coding interview preparation resource.
The LeetCode Controversy: Does This Tool Assess One’s Skills Accurately Enough?
“It was something like 600 of the most miserable hours of my life programming. I was in the top 2% of LeetCode users in the world,” Lee recalled. “The queries are not representative of what you do in the industry. They are puzzles you have to cram for.” With the generative AI boom, Leetcode Wizard and other AI-powered interview tip apps have also surfaced. These apps capitalize on LeetCode’s growing discontent among some software engineers. As Isabel de Vries of Leetcode Wizard added, the reason for LeetCode’s failure is that it “doesn’t let engineers showcase their programming prowess, plus it ignores AI integration in everyday programming tasks.”
This also brings the debate of propriety into the mix, with smart AI tools claiming they have every right to aid candidates during interviews.
The Genie Is Out of the Lamp: You Are More Likely to Encounter AI Cheating Than You Think
Lee argues that the use of AI to circumvent online assessments is far greater than most people imagine. “I think that people really underestimate how much cheating goes on in these online assessment interviews,” Lee said. “A lot of CS students who are quite serious about recruiting and everything know that there are apps like this. It’s just not understood at a large scale.”
The Industry’s Reaction: A Change Is Required
Lee’s actions sparked a conversation on the next steps regarding hiring in the tech world. His ability to bypass interviews with AI has resulted in calls to change how assessments are conducted. The growing availability and sophistication of AI tools designed to cheat threaten the integrity of many online assessments. The industry faces the problem of creating more sophisticated and legitimate methods of evaluation in an age where AI is prevalent and candidates can easily use these tools to fake their abilities.
