Three minutes in, the recruiter knew. She waited for the screen share.

Recruiter Lily Zhang was conducting an ML system design interview when something felt off. The candidate spoke fluently, but Zhang noticed within three minutes that the words were coming without understanding. Instead of stopping the interview, she let the conversation play out — then asked the candidate to share their screen and draw the system architecture. The candidate froze. A chatbot window flickered on the shared display. Zhang terminated the interview. Her X post describing the moment went viral, splitting reactions between those who called it outright cheating and those who argued the interview system itself rewards memorisation over genuine problem-solving.