--- title: "Generative AI and the Future of Technical Interviews: Addressing Concerns of Increased Cheating | CoderPad" description: "The invention of ChatGPT has raised no shortage of questions. These questions seem mostly to be grounded in fear – anxiety that ChatGPT will replace the need for our jobs, our unique skills, and our need to think." canonical: "https://coderpad.io/blog/hiring-developers/chatgpt-and-the-future-of-technical-interviews-addressing-concerns-of-increased-cheating/" last_modified: "2026-04-15 16:20:59" --- [Back to blog](https://coderpad.io/blog/) # Generative AI and the Future of Technical Interviews: Addressing Concerns of Increased Cheating January 30, 2023 5 Minute Read By Amanda Richardson [Hiring Developers](https://coderpad.io/blog/hiring-developers/) The current popularity of generative AI (Gen AI) like ChatGPT, Claude, and other large language models (LLMs) has certainly raised no shortage of questions for all of us. These questions seem mostly to be grounded in fear – anxiety that candidates will use these technologies to deceive recruiters about their skills and lead to low-performing new hires within your organization. Due to this, many of the questions we get asked at CoderPad have to do with how to keep ChatGPT from messing up the recruiting process. - How do we ensure candidates aren’t cheating by using ChatGPT in an interview? - What measures are we planning to take to ensure ChatGPT isn’t used in the code submitted in assessments? At CoderPad, we believe in embracing new technologies, including the notorious ChatGPT. In the world of software development, we don’t consider using Google or StackOverflow to help look up a function or using autocomplete and [GitHub Copilot](https://github.com/features/copilot) for efficiency to be cheating. In fact, these tools increase efficiency and make your hard-working developers even more efficient. ## These technologies are a critical part of a developer’s tool kit. They help developers to code smarter and more efficiently than they could have otherwise. They prevent developers from recreating the wheel and instead allow them to move projects forward by creating the next wheel better and faster. We are not saying that the job of developers is to be an expert copy and paster, but rather to leverage tools available to develop more creative, well-thought out solutions in the limited time that they have. Developers utilizing StackOverflow and Google for guidance on technical issues was also once seen as a threat to the recruiting process, as this was seen as a way for candidates to have an unfair advantage over candidates who did not know where to look for technical guidance. > We find the modern conversation about the validity of using co-pilot and ChatGPT as a tool in interviewing as a similar conversation to the one we were having decades ago about StackOverflow and Google. Amanda Richardson – CEO of CoderPad Knowing how to use technologies is a skill that developers are expected to have and one that should be assessed for. We see models like ChatGPT as the next set of technologies – and these technologies help developers be better, but can’t replace problem solving, creativity and logic. > 🔖 Further reading: [“Don’t Expect Candidates to Have Everything Memorized”, the Dos and Don’ts of Cheating Prevention With Nathan Sutter](https://coderpad.io/blog/hiring-developers/dos-and-donts-cheating-prevention-nathan-sutter/) ## How should employers hire for developer talent in the world of GenAI? While there’s no doubt GenAI has been and will be used for cheating, this concern can be mitigated with the right interview and assessment practices. In fact, by integrating AI into your process, you can gain a more accurate understanding of candidates’ skills and save valuable time. ### Play the long game, build trust We believe that building trust and transparency throughout the screening process is the most effective solution on multiple levels. This approach not only distinguishes your process from irrelevant or stressful hiring methods but also reduces the likelihood of candidates resorting to dishonest tactics by making them feel respected and valued. Therefore, you should: - Clearly communicate the purpose of the assessment. - Offer appropriate support at all levels of the process — the candidates should not be afraid to ask you questions! - Foster an environment that reflects genuine collaboration. Show the candidate you care about their growth and success. By integrating these best practices, you can minimize cheating while also enhancing the overall candidate experience, ensuring a fair and effective assessment process. ### Create better questions Complex, realistic work-related questions not only resist AI manipulation but also offer a far more engaging experience. Develop questions that address your business’s current challenges and mirror real-world job scenarios. This approach will attract candidates who: - Understand how to address your key problems. - Are genuinely motivated by the work you do. - Align with your company’s mission. By crafting complex, iterative questions that require multiple steps or deeper understanding—rather than simple, one-step questions—you can significantly reduce the risk of cheating. These questions should involve: - Critical thinking - Problem-solving - Creativity These are areas where AI typically struggles to provide comprehensive answers without human-like context or reasoning. This strategy not only makes the assessment more relevant to the actual work the candidate would perform but also minimizes the chances of AI providing complete responses. [![The image is titled "AI 'resistant' questions" and discusses the concept of creating questions that are more resistant to cheating by AI tools during assessments or screenings. It suggests that more complex and iterative questions are harder for AI to solve compared to simpler, single-pass questions. The key points are: Less Resistant Questions: These include "Algo questions," "Single pass," and "Single file exercise." More Resistant Questions: These are described as "Complex questions," "Iterative questions," and "Multi-file exercise." The implication is that moving towards more complex, iterative, and multi-faceted question structures can make it more difficult for AI to cheat or provide correct answers without truly understanding the problem. This approach is recommended to minimize the chances of AI-assisted cheating in screening processes.](https://coderpad.io/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/AI-resistant-coding-interview-questions-1024x513.png)](https://coderpad.io/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/AI-resistant-coding-interview-questions.png) With that said, Gen AI can still be an effective and important part of this process, especially if your developers will be using it in their day-to-day jobs. So how do you go about implementing this while addressing potential cheating concerns? ### Gen AI and the asyncronous technical assessment During the asynchronous technical assessment phase, allow candidates to use AI models to come up with answers. You can then follow up with written questions asking the candidate to critique the code produced by the model. - How does it work? Write a readme file on how the code works. - What would they have done differently to solve the problem? - What could improve the code performance? Another option available to you with CoderPad is to use an [AI-generated and validated follow-up question](https://coderpad.io/features/cheating-prevention/). If it detects a suspicious answer, our own ChatGPT integration will generate a follow-up question asking a candidate to explain a piece of their code and then validate the answer to ensure they understood what they were typing or pasting into the answer box. ### Allowing Gen AI during a live interview During a live interview, we recommend spending time digging into the why behind the candidate’s work. Ask questions that help you to assess how the candidate is thinking and problem solving. [Allow candidates to use ChatGPT](https://coderpad.io/blog/hiring-developers/hiring-managers-you-should-want-candidates-to-use-chatgpt-to-pass-your-technical-interviews-heres-why/) or other Gen AI to assist in problem solving and then talk through how you would approach a code review. If you have concerns that the candidate used an AI model to develop code and just copied it, you can determine so by using CoderPad’s playback feature. This allows the interviewer to playback the candidate’s keystrokes and will make it obvious if code was copied and pasted in from an AI model. Ultimately, [ChatGPT is not an excuse for a developer not to think or a replacement for understanding how code works](https://interviewing.io/blog/how-hard-is-it-to-cheat-with-chatgpt-in-technical-interviews) – in the same way that using a calculator is not a replacement for a math student knowing how to subtract or divide. However, it is a way to get things done in a new and faster way. And when coupled with problem solving, creativity, and logic – it can make a great developer into an even stronger one. ## Like what you’re reading? Why not subscribe to our monthly newsletter? Once a month, you’ll receive a hand-picked selection of tech recruitment content: blog posts, checklists, podcasts, videos, studies and statistics… including insights from our own developer and HR communities! Just drop us your email below. ## Subscribe for more CoderPad insights ## Trending Articles Previous slide Next slide [Announcements ## ChatGPT in CoderPad Interview: Our Commitment to Embracing Modern Developer Toolsets ChatGPT is impacting software development & the hiring process. Read about how we're embracing this technology within CoderPad Interview. Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/announcements/chatgpt-coderpad-interview-embracing-modern-developer-toolsets/) [Hiring Developers ## Generative AI and the Future of Technical Interviews: Addressing Concerns of Increased Cheating The invention of ChatGPT has raised no shortage of questions. These questions seem mostly to be grounded in fear – anxiety that ChatGPT will replace the need for our jobs, our unique skills, and our need to think. Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/hiring-developers/chatgpt-and-the-future-of-technical-interviews-addressing-concerns-of-increased-cheating/) [Hiring Developers ## 18 Features Your Tech Assessment Tool Should Have to Prevent Cheating This article is an overview of “anti-cheat” features that can help you prevent, detect and mitigate cheating attempts within your candidate assessment process. Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/hiring-developers/18-features-your-tech-assessment-tool-should-have-to-prevent-cheating/) [Hiring Developers ## Hot Takes on Hiring: “AI Fluency” Is a Myth Our CEO, Amanda Richardson, and our Head of Product, Frank Hauben, can’t agree on anything else. We put Amanda and Frank on camera, handed them five spicy hot takes about AI in hiring, and told them not to sit on the fence. They sat on the fence anyway. Here’s what they actually fought about. Amanda […] Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/hiring-developers/hot-takes-on-hiring-ai-fluency-is-a-myth/) [Hiring Developers ## 5 Unfiltered Takes on AI That Engineering Leaders Actually Believe We put a room full of senior engineering leaders together, took away the slides, added beer, and asked them to say the thing they’d never put in a LinkedIn post. No PR-approved talking points, no vendor gloss, just people who ship for a living telling the truth about what AI is doing inside their orgs […] Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/hiring-developers/5-unfiltered-takes-on-ai-that-engineering-leaders-actually-believe/) [Hiring Developers ## Your Developer Interview Loop Is a Year Old. Is It Still Finding Your Best Candidates? A YC-backed founder called me last week with some good questions. His 20-person startup hadn’t hired an engineer in over a year. Now they’re opening reqs again, and instead of just dusting off the old loop, he wanted to understand how interviews had changed and if candidates were ready for AI interviews. His process — […] Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/hiring-developers/your-developer-interview-loop-is-a-year-old-is-it-still-finding-your-best-candidates/) [Hiring Developers ## AI Fluency Is the New Technical Skill. Is Your Hiring Process Ready? Artificial intelligence has fundamentally changed software development. Developers are no longer working in isolation, writing every line of code from memory. AI has become part of the engineering workflow, helping developers brainstorm approaches, generate boilerplate code, and debug complex issues. The question isn’t whether engineers are using AI. It’s how effectively they’re using it. Hiring […] Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/hiring-developers/ai-fluency-is-the-new-technical-skill-is-your-hiring-process-ready/) [Hiring Developers ## AI Didn’t Kill Entry Level Hiring. Bad Screening Did. For the last two years, the narrative has been loud, confident, and mostly wrong: AI is coming for entry level engineering jobs. The story goes something like this: If AI can write code, summarize docs, generate tests, and debug basic issues, why would companies still hire junior engineers? It sounds logical. It is also incomplete. […] Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/hiring-developers/ai-didnt-kill-entry-level-hiring-bad-screening-did/) [Hiring Developers ## The Resume Is Dead. Most Teams Just Haven’t Admitted It Yet. Resumes made sense when applying for a job took real effort. That era is over. AI lets candidates apply to hundreds of roles in the time it once took to write a single cover letter. Employer-side AI systems process the flood. The result is a hiring funnel built almost entirely on artificial signals, where the […] Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/hiring-developers/the-resume-is-dead-most-teams-just-havent-admitted-it-yet/) [Hiring Developers ## Is Your Technical Hiring Process Screening Out Great Engineers? The short answer: Many technical hiring processes are doing the latter. High-friction interview loops, live coding under observation, and AI-restrictive assessments are measuring interview performance, not job performance. The fix isn’t rebuilding from scratch — it’s auditing whether your process measures engineering capability or something else entirely. If you attended our recent webinar with CoderPad […] Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/hiring-developers/is-your-technical-hiring-process-screening-out-great-engineers/) [Hiring Developers ## Junior Developers Are Your Strategic Advantage—If You Can Actually Evaluate Them Campus recruiting season arrives the same way every year: hundreds of applications, a narrow window, and a process that was never designed for this much volume or this much pressure. Meanwhile, the definition of “technical skill” is actively shifting—AI-polished resumes have made traditional screening nearly meaningless, and the skills that predict junior developer success look […] Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/hiring-developers/junior-developers-are-your-strategic-advantage-if-you-can-actually-evaluate-them/) [Hiring Developers ## Your Hiring Process Is Losing You Top Talent. Before They Ever Interview! Here’s a hard truth most TA leaders don’t want to admit: your hiring process is screening for the wrong thing. Not skills. Not judgment. Not potential. It’s screening for the ability to interview well. And those two things have almost nothing to do with each other. We sat down with recruiting experts Cammas Freeman, Phil […] Read the post](https://coderpad.io/blog/hiring-developers/your-hiring-process-is-losing-you-top-talent-before-they-ever-interview/) ## Hire with confidence. See why engineering teams trust CoderPad to evaluate developers with realistic, AI-ready hiring workflows. [Request a demo](https://coderpad.io/sales/)