Ghosting AI interviews now illegal in Ohio?

Hi! I’m Peter, CEO of Kickresume, and these career-related stories caught my attention this month — and might catch yours too.

The job market is brutal right now. I think we can all agree on that. 

As sad as it sounds, people will do anything to get hired–and everything to not get fired. Including taking jobs they’re overqualified for, not getting paid enough for, and putting up with toxic management. At least the constant fear of being laid off keeps things exciting!

All just to avoid the terror of being unemployed. Which, shockingly, isn't a great experience in 2025.

Yet, there's apparently one thing job seekers are drawing a hard line at, and would rather risk staying unemployed than subject themselves to it.

But that choice might soon come with permanent consequences—at least if you live in Ohio.

Human Resources

If you've been job hunting recently, you might have encountered a delightful new innovation plaguing the hiring process. 

If not, let me catch you up: AI is now doing job interviews.

Yep, once you're invited to a job interview, there's a chance you'll be greeted by an AI interviewer instead of an actual human being.

The reality is just as absurd as you’d expect—as you join the online interview, there’s no actual video feed, just a woman-like uncanny valley cartoon picture and a female voice talking to you.

The best part is, you might not even know beforehand that you won't be interviewing with a real person. It usually goes like this: the bots will message you to schedule an interview with them, naturally without mentioning that they're, you know, a bot.

And candidates absolutely hate AI interviews. 

So much so they’re refusing to take calls with bots or leaving the calls once they find out. And in doing so, walking away from potential job opportunities.

But I don't blame them. Especially after seeing/reading about some spectacular AI interview failures that would otherwise be pretty funny—except there's someone's livelihood on the line.

The honorary mentions include an AI interviewer that started hallucinating mid-conversation, another that somehow ended up interviewing a second AI bot instead of the actual candidate, and one that got stuck in a loop repeating the same question over and over (in German, which makes it even funnier).

But beyond the technical disasters, there's something more fundamentally broken here.

Learning curve(ball)

The real problem isn't just that these bots malfunction (even though that in itself can also cost you a job)—it's that these AI interviewers can't handle the most basic part of any interview: answering questions.

One candidate told Fortune the experience was "startling" and said the AI couldn't answer any of his questions about the company culture. 

Another told the New York Times the bot couldn't answer most of her questions about the job itself. 

Here's what companies seem to have forgotten: interviews are supposed to be a two-way process. You're both supposed to figure out if you're a good fit for each other.

But companies that deploy AI to do interviews make it a one-way process and keep the candidate from learning more about the company.

Though I'd argue you are learning something about the company—just not what they intended. 

You're learning they don't care about employee experience. 

You're learning they'll replace you the moment they decide an AI can do your job.

And you're learning they've decided human connection isn't necessary for hiring humans.

Which, in itself, tells you a lot about working there.

So refusing these interviews seems pretty reasonable to me. But what if refusing wasn't really an option anymore?

Skibidi Ohio Legislation

Enter Ohio House Bill 395.

This charming piece of legislation proposes creating a statewide database to track employment prospects who "miss job interviews." The idea is to help "protect employers" by flagging candidates who have a history of not showing up.

But the thing is, the bill doesn't distinguish between missing interviews with humans versus bailing on AI bots. 

So theoretically, if you decide to skip the uncanny-valley-cartoon-avatar interview, you could end up flagged as an "unreliable candidate" for future employers to see.

Isn’t that just great? 

Welcome to the future (it’s weird!)

So what are you supposed to do in this brave new world where robots interview humans and governments track your refusal to cooperate?

Here's some advice, ranging from sensible to deeply unhelpful:

• If you can, try to find out beforehand whether your interviewer will be human. This way you can make an informed choice about whether to show up, and if you do decide to go through with it, at least you won't be blindsided by a cartoon face asking about your greatest weakness.

• If talking to humans makes you nervous, congratulations—AI interviews might actually be perfect for you.

• Oh, and maybe move out of Ohio (if you haven't already). 

But most importantly, if you're a manager or work in HR and have any say in this process—don't go there. 

There's a human being on the other side who deserves a few minutes of your actual time. 

Made it all the way down here? That shows some serious dedication.

That kind of dedication is exactly what we're looking for on our Kickresume subreddit. If you join, you'll instantly get 15 days of Kickresume Premium free.

The promo code will be waiting in your welcome message.

Catch you later! 

Peter