Job hunting can be a dehumanizing, demoralizing experience even if you’re interacting with an empathetic recruiter on the other end. For the 1.7 million people slogging through long-term unemployment in the U.S., the process is grueling at best. Add to this the advent of AI-generated recruiter avatars that glitch out on you before you even speak to a real person at the company you’re trying to work for, and now you’re truly in hell.
This week, TikTok user @its_ken04, who goes by Ken, posted a recording she took of 25 seconds of the “interview” that’s now viral on TikTok. In the video, the avatar says “vertical bar pilates” 14 times in a row, occasionally tripping over the words or stuttering, while Ken stares at the screen unamused.