A 21-year-old student from Columbia University in New York, Chungin “Roy” Lee, has chosen to forgo prestigious internships with Amazon, Meta and TikTok. Instead, he is moving to San Francisco this March to grow his start-up, Interview Coder, which openly markets itself as a tool for helping software engineers cheat in virtual job interviews.
According to documents seen by CNBC, Columbia University has initiated disciplinary action against Lee. But that has not deterred him. In Lee’s words, “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.”
The trend gained momentum after the COVID-19 pandemic forced interviews onto virtual platforms like Zoom and Google Meet. With candidates hidden behind screens, many began quietly leveraging generative AI tools, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT, to solve coding problems in real time.
These tools can analyse both spoken and written questions, quickly generate clean code, and even provide ready-made explanations — all within the duration of a timed interview. Interview Coder’s unique selling point is its stealth. Its website claims that the tool cannot be detected by screen-recording software or webcam monitoring features.
Hiring managers have attempted to catch candidates by looking for side glances, reflections of open apps on glasses or answers that sound overly rehearsed. Some have even flagged the common “Hmm” pause as a red flag — used to buy time while AI-generated answers load.
Henry Kirk, software developer and co-founder of Studio.init in New York, noted, “It’s harder to detect now. The technology has gotten smart enough to present answers without requiring users to shift their gaze.”
When Kirk hosted a virtual coding challenge for an engineering job he was looking to fill in June, 700 people applied, further underscoring the widespread use of AI-assisted tools. Kirk’s own experience revealed that more than 50% of candidates had cheated using AI.
Big tech companies are beginning to respond. During an internal town hall meeting at Google, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sundar Pichai acknowledged that the issue was significant enough for the company to consider bringing back in-person interviews. Amazon and Anthropic (the company behind AI chatbot Claude) have introduced policies discouraging candidates from using AI tools during assessments. Deloitte, too, has reinstated in-person interviews for its graduate programme in the United Kingdom (UK).
After spending 600 hours practising for Leetcode, Lee reportedly felt so miserable he decided to create Interview Coder in less than a week. Upon its success, he even engaged internet influencers known as the “Costco Guys” to produce a promotional video.
His service now runs on a subscription model, priced at $60 (approximately Rs 5,200) a month, and he claims the start-up is on track to cross $1,000,000 (Rs 8,67,26,583) in annual recurring revenue by mid-May.
Notably, rival software Leetcode Wizard — billed on its website as “The #1 AI-powered coding interview cheating app” and “The perfect tool for achieving a ‘Strong Hire’ result in any coding interview and landing your dream job at any FAANG company” — charges 49 euros ($53, or Rs 4,600) a month for a “Pro” subscription. More than 16,000 users have reportedly benefitted from it, with several hundred confirming job offers.
Despite losing internship offers after demonstrating his tool in a viral YouTube video, which Amazon had taken down citing copyright claims, Lee remains unapologetic.
“If there are better tools, then it’s their fault for not resorting to the better alternative to exist,” he told CNBC. “I don’t feel guilty at all for not catering to a company’s inability to adapt.”
