01
How candidates use AI in live interviews
Answer tools are sold openly, by subscription, and several are funded by investors. Most fall into four kinds.
| Kind | What it does |
|---|---|
| Answer overlays | Listen to the interviewer and show a ready answer on the candidate’s screen, in a window built to stay out of a screen share. |
| Coding solvers | Read the problem from the screen and show working code with an explanation to repeat. |
| Voice assistants | The voice mode of a general assistant such as ChatGPT, running on the same computer or a phone nearby. |
| A second screen | Another device or monitor with notes, search or an assistant, out of the camera’s view. |
Fabric, which runs AI-led interviews, attributes 45% of the cheating it flagged to dedicated answer tools such as Cluely and Interview Coder, and 34% to general voice assistants. Sources are on our research page.
02
Why interviewers miss it
- The tools are designed to be invisible in a screen share and on the shared tab.
- Answers arrive in a second or two, fast enough to pass for a thoughtful pause.
- A good candidate who reads well sounds much like a good candidate who knows the answer.
- The interviewer is assessing the answer, not watching for cheating, and cannot do both well.
03
Signs to watch for
- Eyes track across the screen as if reading, just below or beside the camera.
- Answers are polished and complete but fall apart at the first follow-up question.
- The candidate repeats your question back before every answer, buying time.
- Code appears in large, finished blocks with little editing.
- Explanations use phrasing that sounds written rather than spoken.
Asking follow-ups about the candidate’s own past work helps, because no tool knows it. It does not help with a tool that answers a coding problem in real time.
04
What Polar flags
While the interview runs, on Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams or any other video call app, Polar flags:
- Known interview-assistance software, such as Cluely, Interview Coder and Final Round AI, kept current as new tools appear.
- Windows the interviewer cannot see.
- Remote-control tools and tampered setups.
- Signs in the call audio of help from off camera.
Your team gets an evidence report for every candidate and makes the decision. See what Polar detects.
05
Keeping it fair to candidates
- Candidates are told what is collected and give consent before anything starts.
- Polar never captures the screen, keystrokes, files or browsing history.
- A finding is a signal for your team to review, never an automatic rejection.
- Full call audio is never stored.
06
Questions
- Can you detect Cluely or Interview Coder in an interview?
- Yes. Polar flags known interview-assistance tools, including Cluely, Interview Coder and Final Round AI, and the list is kept current as new tools appear.
- Does it work for coding interviews?
- Yes. Polar runs alongside the call, whatever the candidate is asked to do in it, including live coding in a shared editor.
- Does the interviewer need to install anything?
- No. Only the candidate runs Polar Check, from their private link. It needs no installation or administrator rights and removes itself after the interview.
- Which video call apps does it work with?
- Any of them: Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex and others. Polar runs on the candidate’s computer alongside the call, so you keep the app you already use.
- Which computers does it support?
- Windows and macOS. Linux and Chromebooks are not supported.