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Dystopian and dehumanising: that’s what it felt like when I was interviewed by an AI assistant | Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen

Over the past 15 years of my working life, I’ve done a lot of interviews for a lot of different jobs and industries: call centre operator, social media manager, bookseller, copywriter, library worker. Recently, after completing my first year of a master’s degree in early childhood and primary teaching, I applied for a preschool education role and experienced a first: being interviewed by AI. I’d heard of this practice and was aware of its shortcomings, from how demoralising it is to the risk of discrimination. Y…

By the Truvace desk2 min read1 sourceJournalismTRV-2026-1383· cite & verify
Dystopian and dehumanising: that’s what it felt like when I was interviewed by an AI assistant | Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen

In brief

A teaching student who applied for a preschool education job at a not-for-profit kindergarten was shortlisted, then found the interview would be run by an AI assistant over video. During the session she was removed after pausing to think. Her own questions were answered only by repeating the job ad, and she was told to speak to a manager for anything more.

The account matters because it shows how automated screening can feel to applicants, particularly in a caring profession, and how little recourse they may have. It is a single personal essay, so it cannot show how common such interviews are or how they affect hiring outcomes. The organisation's view is not given.

Main points

  1. The writer has 15 years of work history and was applying for a preschool education role after one year of a master's in early childhood and primary teaching.
  2. She was cut off from the interview after pausing to consider a difficult question and had to restart it.
  3. The AI repeated the job advertisement in response to her questions and referred her to a manager for clarification.
  4. The organisation's website reportedly used AI photos of educators, which made her wonder about labour erasure.
  5. She withdrew and emailed her reasons, but over a month later had received no reply.

The problem

An AI interviewer ended a candidate's interview when she paused to think, could not answer her questions about the role, and left her without any human contact, so she withdrew from the application.

The rundown

The interview was with a disembodied voice that greeted her by name, with a video window showing only herself. She described the setup as disconcerting, and she noted she had been alone the entire time.

After the experience she asked on early childhood forums whether others had been through it. Industry peers, including senior people, reacted with shock and said they could not believe it was happening.

She links the practice to the ongoing childcare crisis in Australia and argues that giving recruitment for such an essential, human role to a machine is lazy at best and negligent at worst. She mentions risks such as discrimination as known shortcomings but does not document them here.

Sources

  1. JournalismThe Guardian2026-10-12

The debate