- This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.
- You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.
Hello! I'm Jordan Parker Erb, and I'll be filling in for Dan DeFrancesco all week while he's on vacation. Have you been seeing a lot of Alo accessories and Asics sneakers lately? They're just two of the status symbols that men are obsessed with this year.
By the way — if you have a minute, consider taking Business Insider's survey. Your feedback can help shape BI's future.
In today's big story, we're looking at how new AI tools are helping workers bluff their way through interviews.
What's on deck:
- Markets: Biden's top labor official says the "coveted soft landing" is here.
- Tech: Everyone from Amazon to Uber is using artificial intelligence to gouge you on prices.
- Business: A $300,000 scam killed one septuagenarian's dreams of retirement.
But first, is it really cheating if there are no rules?
If this was forwarded to you, sign up here.
The big story
A new interview hack
It's really hard to get a job right now. After a few years of employees calling the shots, employers once again have the upper hand — and they're making sure applicants know it.
In some cases, landing a job requires personality tests, on-site assessments, and several rounds of interviews (and that's assuming you don't get ghosted midway through).
But a new cohort of AI tools and startups is looking to make the interview process easier for candidates, Business Insider's Rob Price writes — by quietly telling them the right answers to interview questions in real time.
Some people have built homemade AI tools to help interviewees, releasing them online for free. Others, like Final Round AI, are trying to bring it into the mainstream.
A startup developing AI-powered tools for job seekers, Final Round AI offers an AI résumé builder, a cover letter writing service, and a mock interview tool. More controversially, it has its Copilot: an app that listens in on an interview and feeds answers to the interviewee.
Michael Guan, the startup's CEO, called it a "magical teleprompter" — but made it clear he doesn't consider it cheating. He's not the only one looking to AI to change the interview process.
The use of artificial intelligence in job interviews is at the center of a heated debate in Silicon Valley.
Gaming the interview process is nothing new. As Rob reported in 2022, some people go as far as to hire stand-ins to do the interviews for them in risky bait-and-switch schemes.
But the use of AI, in particular, has the industry up in arms.
BI's Melia Russell found that no one can seem to agree upon the use of AI chatbots in technical interviews. Some say they want to see a candidate's abilities without a technical crutch. Others say banning AI chatbots in interviews is like prohibiting calculators during math tests — if workers can use the tech in their jobs, why not in the interview process, too?
Some startups, Melia found, are now changing their tests and asking applicants to complete chatbot-resistant tasks.
But for those who don't see AI assistance as cheating, it's irrelevant. Guan, the Final Round AI CEO, told Rob that if an applicant can use AI to ace an interview, then they should be able to use it "to become the top performer in their daily jobs."
Regardless of their take on AI-assisted interviews, several of the people who spoke with Rob and Melia said the industry's technical-interview process is broken. The question now, Rob writes, is whether chatbots will change the technical-interview process — for better or worse.
3 things in markets
- Fed tees up for potential interest rate cut. The "coveted soft landing" is here, President Joe Biden's top labor official told BI, as the US continues to see a strong yet slowing jobs market. That could give the Fed the confidence it needs to cut rates in September.
- Meet the Brevan Howard portfolio managers with the most capital. Since cofounder Alan Howard's departure in 2019, the $35 billion hedge fund Brevan Howard has changed considerably. Its five biggest portfolio managers are part of a much larger and diversified talent roster than when Howard had the reins.
- TSMC rides Nvidia's hype to $1 trillion. Chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, one of Nvidia's suppliers, briefly crossed the $1 trillion valuation mark on Monday after gaining as much as 4.8%. It comes after Nvidia's meteoric rise this year, which led it to surpass Apple to become the world's second-most-valuable company.
3 things in tech
- Personalized pricing makes it hell to pay. You might be willing to pay more for an airplane seat than the guy next to you — and airlines know it. In a world ruled by personalized pricing, you never know if you're being ripped off.
- Robots in the real world. Startups are building robots that can perceive and react to the human world, and venture firms predict spatial intelligence will be the next big thing in AI. The goal is to develop robots that can handle a variety of complex tasks rather than a single repetitive motion.
- Be there or be square. After pandemic-era lockdowns, San Francisco's techies are ready to hang out IRL. As they embrace an in-person culture, startup founders, venture capitalists, and tech workers are hanging out at these five hot spots.
3 things in business
- How a scam killed a grandpa's retirement dreams. Leonid Shteyn was scammed out of $300,000 at 70 years old, forcing him to start from scratch in advanced age. He says Bank of America, which the deceptive transactions went through, and a lack of government oversight are to blame.
- Confusion following the Paramount-Skydance merger. Paramount's top execs insisted it was "business as usual" following the mega media deal. But in the same breath, it notified employees of looming layoffs without saying who would be cut. Meanwhile, the company's CEO-to-be keeps calling it a "tech enterprise," raising doubts about his strategy.
- How a sexting scandal rocked the romance world — and unmasked its most popular narrator. Joe Arden, known for narrating innumerable smutty audiobooks, built a career seducing women with his voice. Then, a sexting scandal turned BookTok against him.
In other news
- Read the letter: Biden tells House Democrats to stop calling on him to drop out.
- Retiring early sounds like the dream — but not achieving FIRE could actually help you live longer.
- The Arizona primary where the MAGA movement is devouring itself.
- Videos show what hit a Ukrainian children's hospital, and Russia is 'gaslighting,' war and weapons experts say.
- The Apple Watch is reportedly getting a birthday makeover.
- Gen Z doesn't know how to flirt.
- Waymo's robotaxis are better than some San Francisco drivers.
- Companies are going bankrupt at the fastest pace since the pandemic.
- This old 2020 email from Mark Zuckerberg might just be the explanation for his extreme makeover.
What's happening today
- Fed Chairman Jerome Powell testifies on the Semiannual Monetary Policy Report in Congress.
- NATO summit begins. The stakes are high for Joe Biden, whose poor debate performance last week put his political future in peril.
- Harvey Weinstein appears at court in New York. Prosecutors are seeking a retrial for the entertainment mogul's overturned rape and sexual assault conviction.
The Insider Today team: Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Hallam Bullock, senior editor, in London. Annie Smith, associate producer, in London. Amanda Yen, fellow, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York.