Why AI interviews don't work for hiring in 2026
In 2026, AI interviews promise to screen more candidates for less money. In practice they put off strong candidates, get sent to everyone, and produce scores that are hard to check. Candidates do not trust them either: a 2025 Gartner survey found only 26% of job candidates trust AI to evaluate them fairly. People should run interviews, with AI helping behind the scenes.
Do job seekers trust AI interviews?
Mostly not. Two large surveys show that most candidates are wary of AI judging them.
A Gartner survey of 2,918 job candidates in early 2025 found only 26% trust AI to evaluate them fairly. A quarter (25%) said they trust an employer less if it uses AI to evaluate their information. Gartner published the figures in a press release on 1 August 2025.
The Pew Research Center surveyed 11,004 US adults in December 2022. In its report, 66% said they would not want to apply for a job with an employer that used AI to help make hiring decisions. Americans opposed AI making final hiring decisions by 71% to 7%. Pew summed up its findings in one line:
"People are generally wary and uncertain of AI being used in hiring and assessing workers."
| Finding | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Candidates who trust AI to evaluate them fairly | 26% | Gartner, early 2025 |
| Candidates who trust an employer less if AI evaluates them | 25% | Gartner, early 2025 |
| US adults who would not want to apply where AI helps make hiring decisions | 66% | Pew, December 2022 |
| US adults against and for AI making the final hiring decision | 71% against, 7% for | Pew, December 2022 |
| Candidates who used AI during the application process | 39% | Gartner, late 2024 |
| Candidates more likely to apply if in-person interviews are required | 62% | Gartner, 2025 |
Why do good candidates skip AI interviews?
Strong candidates usually have a job and other options, so they choose where to spend their time. If the first step in your process is a one-way video call with an AI, many of them will close the tab.
Being interviewed by a machine tells a candidate that the company did not think they were worth a person's time. Strong candidates notice that. The ones who complete the interview are more often the ones with fewer options. So the tool can quietly shift your pipeline toward weaker applicants.
Candidates say they prefer people. Gartner also reported, in the same press release, that 62% of candidates said they are more likely to apply if the employer requires in-person interviews.
Why do companies send AI interviews to every applicant?
An AI interview costs a company almost nothing, so there is no reason to be selective about who gets one. So companies send one to every applicant. A candidate who applies to many roles gets an invitation from each, and every one takes time.
Candidates respond the way anyone would. They stop doing them. The interview then filters for patience, not for skill.
Can you trust an AI interview score?
An AI interview score is hard to trust on its own. You rarely find out when an AI rejects a strong candidate, and candidates now use AI to answer AI.
Say a candidate finishes the interview, and the AI scores them low. They are dropped. Hiring managers rarely check rejected candidates, and a rejected candidate does not come back. Losing one strong engineer this way costs more than the tool saves.
AI models also make confident errors. They can miss the context behind an answer, or reward someone who sounds polished but says little. A Gartner survey of 3,290 candidates in late 2024 found 39% used AI during the application process. Of those, 29% used it to answer assessment questions. Gartner's Jamie Kohn, Senior Research Director in its HR practice, put the problem plainly:
"It's getting harder for employers to evaluate candidates' true abilities, and in some cases, their identities."
Could an AI judge whether someone is good at a job?
Not reliably, as of 2026. Judging whether someone is good at a job takes knowing the job well. You need to know which follow-up question to ask. You need to notice when an answer sounds right but is wrong. If an AI could do that reliably, it could do most of the job itself, and you would not need to hire.
Where does AI help in hiring?
AI helps behind the scenes. It can sort what a candidate showed and make it easy to search and compare. That is how we use it at The Qualidex. People run the interviews. Employers book and run their interviews on our platform, and we design and run ours with people who work in the field today.
Each interview adds to the candidate's application, which they keep. The next employer reads what they proved. Next to every requirement in a job ad, the employer sees what the candidate proved and in which interview.
What is The Qualidex?
The Qualidex is a hiring platform for companies across the Nordics, with its headquarters in Stockholm. Job seekers keep one application that grows with every interview. Employers post jobs for free and pay 5% of first-year salary when they hire, or ask us about a custom monthly Enterprise plan. Read how The Qualidex matches candidates using interviews, or the four best hiring channels for a startup.
Hiring engineers? See how to hire software engineers in Stockholm or in the US, and AI engineers in Stockholm or in the US.
Frequently asked questions
Do job candidates trust AI in hiring?
Mostly not. A 2025 Gartner survey of 2,918 job candidates found only 26% trust AI to evaluate them fairly.
Would people apply to a company that uses AI in hiring?
Many would not. In a December 2022 Pew Research Center survey, 66% of US adults said they would not want to apply where AI helps make hiring decisions.
Do candidates use AI in job applications?
Many do. A Gartner survey of 3,290 candidates in late 2024 found 39% used AI during the application process.
Does The Qualidex use AI interviews?
No. People run the interviews on The Qualidex. AI helps behind the scenes, sorting what a candidate showed so it is easy to search and compare.
Should a company screen candidates with AI interviews?
We do not recommend it. Strong candidates tend to skip them, and a low score is hard to check.
Sources
- Pew Research Center, AI in hiring and evaluating workers: what Americans think, 20 April 2023 (survey conducted 12 to 18 December 2022).
- Gartner, Gartner survey shows only 26% of job applicants trust AI will fairly evaluate them, press release, 1 August 2025.