A few days ago I shared this story on LinkedIn that I thought would get a few laughs and maybe spark a conversation. Instead it passed over 400K impressions and reached over 260K members.. by far my most viral post ever.
Why/how did this happen? Clearly I hit a nerve. I don’t think it was because of the story itself, but because of what it reveals.
In this week’s newsletter, I’m going to walk you through what happened and unpack the biggest themes that emerged from the conversation. These say a lot about where hiring, trust, and digital work are heading. Leaders are feeling this shift. Most just do not have the words for it yet.
Quick backstory
At StealthX we’re actively hiring what we call AI Forward Engineers, builders that use AI coding copilots, tools, agents/sub-agents, and emerging techniques to deliver value faster. After filtering through 200+ applications, we narrowed the list down to a group of strong finalists (or so we thought).
We’ve been going through the interview process and screening folks based on alignment with our values + mindset fit + hard skills.
On Wednesday, Jacklyn on our team was doing the 1st interview with a set of candidates. At 4:55pm I got this Slack message from her:
“Can I call you. That last interview was a digital human.” Not maybe, not possibly. An AI-powered digital human.
The original Slack thread
When we jumped into a quick huddle, she walked me through the experience. The strange pauses, mismatched tone, responses that sounded like they were stitched together. She said it felt like talking to a puppet.
A candidate attempted to pass an AI generated presence off as themselves during a hiring interview.
Today this is detectable, but soon it won’t be.
That’s the part that should make everyone pause. We’re no longer just evaluating skills. We’re evaluating whether the person on the other side is ACTUALLY a person.
Trust signals that used to be reliable are disappearing. The next wave of hiring will require candidates to prove they have the skills AND they’re a living, breathing person. The bar is rising and the things that matter most are the things AI cannot fake.
The comments on my post took things much further and revealed what folks are feeling right now. I’m going to attempt to unpack some of the takeaways from the conversation that was sparked by this story.
1. The hiring process is broken
I got the loudest emotional response on this point. People weren’t just reacting to AI being interviewed. They were reacting to years of frustration with a hiring system that does not work.
One commenter said, “And yet everyone wonder why seekers can’t land a job and companies can’t get positions closed. There is no crisis - there is completely f****d and broken system.”
Another added, “Real people getting ghosted because recruiters aren’t adapting correctly to the new reality.”
Others pointed out the irony. “We've been dealing with AI recruiting for a long time! Why not have the candidates be AI? I've always been against developing AI at the scale we are, with such broad access. But here we are now! Back to in person interviews I guess!”
If hiring already feels chaotic for people, adding fake AI humans on top of it will push the system past its breaking point.
2. Trust is disappearing fast
This was the 2nd strongest theme. People are genuinely worried that they will not be able to trust anyone on the other end of a call.
“Give it a year or two and it will be nearly impossible to discern between humans and bots.”
“The biggest problem is now we will suspect real humans of being robots.”
When trust collapses, everything downstream becomes harder. Communication, collaboration, customer experience, team culture. Trust is the product now. That’s the shift most people aren’t talking enough about.
3. The term “digital human” broke people’s brains
In the Slack message I screenshotted we used the words “digital human,” which became a whole subset of conversations in the thread.
“Digital human sounds like an oxymoron to me.”
“I’m just stuck on the term digital human.”
“So does that make us analog humans?”
It was kinda funny, but also seems like a signal. We don’t have a shared vocabulary for this next era yet. The language feels uncanny because the world is changing underneath us.
4. A pull back to real human presence
There was a quite a bit of dark humor throughout the conversation, a bit like a Black Mirror episode. Buried beneath the humor is something deeper. People want the real world.
“Crazy idea, and hear me out on this, what about in person interviews? You know, in the real world?”
“Perhaps it is time to reestablish the human connection by getting the candidate in front of you. Isn't a warm handshake the most assuring?”
“Just another reason to hire people you can see IRL.”
AI is pushing people back toward real rooms with real people and the desire for trust signals that can’t be faked. The world is moving toward experiences that feel rooted in real human presence.
5. Referrals are rising in value
When trust erodes, authentic networks and connections will take over.
“Referrals from people you trust will become even more important than they are now.”
“What's more AI forward than using an avatar for your interview? But truly, referrals are the best way to find a good match.”
People want someone vouching for the human on the other side. This is what happens when every digital trust signal collapses. Networks step in to fill the gap.
Referrals have been one of the strongest signals when it comes to hiring for a long time. The adage “It’s not about what you know, it’s about who you know” will only become more true. This raises a lot of questions/concerns about equity in hiring that we’ll need to consider as trust/authenticity falls apart.
6. New business opportunities are emerging
Not surprisingly, several comments highlighted the business opportunities that will come from proving authenticity/reality:
“I see a business opportunity for having verified remote interview centers, similar to test taking centers!”
Identity verification, presence detection, real time authenticity checks, and entire new categories will form around trust infrastructure. It will be reeealllly interesting to see what new products and services spring up in the next few years to address this problem.
7. The next frontier of hiring AI employees
Some folks took the discussion further asking why not hire an AI employee if they can do the job well?
“What if you hire an AI and it is an excellent employee? If you found out, would you fire the AI or just stop paying it?”
“If it was a sentient LLM with TTS capabilities, why not hire it?”
This is the conversation no one’s ready for. Once AI becomes a labor force, the questions shift from detection to governance (i..e, what guardrails should be in place for hiring/staffing AI employees?).
This will be one of the defining questions of the next decade of leadership.
8. People want guardrails but I don’t think anyone knows what they should be
Everyone can feel the problem. No one knows the playbook.
“Add CAPTCHA and Turing Tests to the list of hoops candidates will need to jump through to land a job, lol.”
“I was also thinking a video version of your cover letter would also be good.”
Right now there’s no consensus or standards. Just a lot of anxiety and ideas. This is why leadership matters, to create clarity when there isn’t any.
9. Everyone knows this is just the beginning
Our story isn’t about a single moment, it’s a preview of what’s coming fast.
“I had one of these not too long ago for a Head of AI interview. Instantly felt weird and unnatural. I'm sure this is only the beginning, and the tech will get so good that we'll have a very hard time differentiating.”
“Wow, we live in some pretty crazy times. Just waiting for the Verified Human badge to start showing up on LinkedIn!”
Trust signals are disappearing and becoming one of the most valuable assets in work and customer/employee experience.
The leaders who win will be the ones who design clarity, design trust, and design human experiences that make people feel grounded again.
Wrapping up
This was such a surreal moment for us, but it also further highlighted that trust is one of the most important design challenges in business today.
Hiring is one of the first areas where this is breaking, but it won’t be the last.
If you’re building, leading, or designing in this era the question is simple.. how will you help people trust their experiences again?
Onward & upward,
Drew
P.s. If we haven’t met yet, hello! I’m Drew Burdick, Founder and Managing Partner at StealthX. We work with brands to design & build great customer experiences that win. I share ideas weekly through this newsletter & over on the Building Great Experiences podcast. Have a question? Feel free to contact us, I’d love to hear from you.