Job Interviews Enter a Strange New World With AI That Talks Back

For better or worse, the next generation of job interviews has arrived: Employers are now rolling out artificial intelligence simulating live, two-way screener calls using synthetic voices.

Startups like Apriora, HeyMilo AI and Ribbon all say they’re seeing swift adoption of their software for conducting real-time AI interviews over video. Job candidates converse with an AI “recruiter” that asks follow-up questions, probes key skills and delivers structured feedback to hiring managers. The idea is to make interviewing more efficient for companies — and more accessible for applicants — without requiring recruiters to be online around the clock.

“A year ago this idea seemed ...