Columbia University Suspends Student Behind Interview Cheating AI (businessinsider.com)
- Reference: 0176840887
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/03/27/1958240/columbia-university-suspends-student-behind-interview-cheating-ai
- Source link: https://www.businessinsider.com/columbia-suspends-student-ai-interview-coder-cheat-tool-chungin-lee-2025-3
Interview Coder, which sells for $60 monthly, is on track to generate $2 million in annual revenue, Lee said. The university initially placed him on probation after finding him responsible for "facilitation of academic dishonesty." Lee had already submitted paperwork for a leave of absence before his suspension. He told BI he plans to move to San Francisco, which "was my plan all along."
[1] https://www.businessinsider.com/columbia-suspends-student-ai-interview-coder-cheat-tool-chungin-lee-2025-3
Invite the candidate to an in-person interview (Score:3, Insightful)
and roll in the whiteboard. Easy solution to AI cheating. Even if you don't know the syntax you should be able to articulate how you'd approach the problem, edge cases, etc.
Re: (Score:1)
^This. And not just for coding but for troubleshooting or other work scenarios... real life is open book and this strategy lets people show they have the knowledge and experience needed to approach and tackle real problems rather than having lookupable details only someone fresh out of class, cert exam, or freshly walking away from a specialized role will have memorized.
The former is what makes someone good in this field whereas the latter doesn't yield much value, finding the former is tough whereas 1-3mon
Doesn't need the degree (Score:1)
He's clearly already internalized Columbia's ethical standards - compromise them early and often!
The subtext here... (Score:2)
Companies are still relying on coding assessments as gatekeeping tools for industry. Wasting millions on HackerRank, etc.
The real scandal here (Score:1)
The real scandal here is that we live in a world where someone can pocket millions of dollars for "creating" something of absolutely no long-term value to society (or even of negative value), whereas people who work dilligently and honestly still get to worry about tomorrow.
Re: (Score:2)
Online coding assessments was already companies phoning in the interview process. I'm glad they got hacked. Maybe companies will go back to in person interviews (gasp)
The hard question: what do coders do? (Score:2)
To the extent that a product can do the job, to that extent the job has been automated away. $60 a month seems a cheap price to pay for an adequate coder!
No having a degree is not going to be a problem (Score:3)
I might not approve of his products or his ethics, but he has proven that he was able to get a viable business without getting a degree. He got the skills to be successful in life.
Re: (Score:3)
What's wrong with the product. Coding interviews are just leetcode bullshit these days.
Re: (Score:3)
Some can be, but that's only if they're a poor question. I like using questions that are missing pieces just to see how people respond to that. I'd much rather hire a developer that realizes they don't have all of the information and can ask good questions to clarify requirements and identify incomplete specifications than someone who can figure out how to use a hash map to solve a problem more efficiently. I'll take a good work process and problem solving approach over knowledge of the magic solution any d
Re: (Score:2)
You are in the very small minority of hiring managers in tech who use legit interview methods. This tool is not designed to circumvent you. It's designed for the 99% of tech companies who force candidates to spend several hours taking leetcode tests with either an AI proctor or a very uninterested human proctor. There's no back and forth discussion about the issue. It's finish in this amount of time and we'll get back to you.
Re: (Score:2)
Yep. Don't hate the player....hate the game.
Re: (Score:3)
10000 percent. If anything, this will bring light to how the system is gamed against kids these days to make money for the administration and staff of higher education. Not only that, but the school's admin are just a bunch of Amazon/Bezos cronies.
Re: (Score:1)
Unfortunately it is no different to what has been happening for years in medicine and law.