Tell Me a Story When being evaluated for a job, employment seeker and marketer Jack Ryan found himself being interviewed by an artificial intelligence-powered avatar — and was not exactly thrilled with the experience. Ryan told 404 Media that the avatar he interviewed with, which was developed by a Melbourne-based AI startup called Fairgo, was “a perfect demonstration of late-stage capitalism.” “While Fairgo’s intent is to provide a fair and equitable interview process,” Ryan said, “I can’t imagine AI, [large language models], and other tools are able to interpret the human emotion and facial reactions to provide an actual, well-rounded interview.” In a clip posted to his LinkedIn last week, the Silicon Valley-based marketer and self-described disabled athlete was seen smirking as the red-haired female avatar asked him for his work experience and encouraged him to get creative. “I find it helps when candidates tell me a story in answering the questions,” the avatar, which does not appear to have a name, said robotically. It’s a perfect encapsulation of the kind of uncanniness many said the age of AI would usher in — except, of course, far more banal. Disability Matters On its website, the startup claims that candidates interviewed by Fairgo avatars “consistently love the interview experience” — but Ryan very much disagrees. “As a disabled individual who is reliant on remote work, I am already concerned about openly stating I am disabled in the forms that companies put at the end of their job applications,” he explained to 404. “To…Man Baffled When He Shows Up for Job Interview and the Interviewer Is an AI Avatar