Columbia student sells AI tool to help candidates cheat job interviews
Chungin "Roy" Lee, a 21-year-old Columbia University student, created Interview Coder, a service that provides real-time AI assistance to software engineers during virtual coding interviews while evading detection. Lee used the tool to obtain internship offers from Amazon, Meta, and TikTok, which were rescinded after he publicly demonstrated the method. The incident has prompted tech companies including Google to consider returning to in-person interviews to combat AI-assisted cheating.
What happened
Chungin "Roy" Lee, a 21-year-old Columbia University student, created Interview Coder, a service that provides real-time AI assistance during virtual coding interviews while remaining undetectable to interviewers.
Lee used his own tool to pass technical interviews at Amazon, Meta, and TikTok, and received internship offers from all three companies. The companies rescinded their offers after Lee posted videos demonstrating how he had used AI to pass an Amazon interview.
Reported impact
A software developer who hosted a virtual coding challenge discovered that more than 50% of applicants were cheating, stating: "The problem is now I don't trust the results as much."
Tech companies are adapting to combat AI-assisted cheating. Google CEO Sundar Pichai suggested during a February town hall that hiring managers consider returning to in-person interviews. Deloitte and Anthropic have already made similar changes.
Index analysis
Interview Coder is marketed as "invisible to all screen-recording softwares" and costs $60 per month. Lee stated the service is reportedly on track to hit $1 million in annual recurring revenue by mid-May.
Lee argued that using AI during interviews reflects current programming practices: "Everyone programs nowadays with the help of AI. It doesn't make sense to have an interview format that assumes you don't have the use of AI."
Governance controls
Columbia University opened disciplinary proceedings against Lee.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.