Does HireVue use AI to score you?

HireVue's explainability statement describes three steps. First, a speech-to-text system from Rev.ai turns your spoken answer into text. Second, HireVue's models work out what the text means. Third, they score the answer against how expert human raters scored answers to the same competency question.¹

The same statement says the AI relies only on what you say. It does not use video analysis or other audio features, so it does not assess your facial expressions, body language, background and surroundings, or tone of voice.¹ HireVue's candidate FAQ adds that it never uses your recording to identify you, which is what people usually mean by facial recognition, and that a scored answer is judged on its whole context rather than on keywords.²

So the practical lever is content. A clear, specific story about what you did and what happened scores better than a polished delivery with nothing in it, because the transcript is what gets read.

HireVue says its platform does not make recruitment decisions. Where an assessment is switched on, recruiters see each candidate in a tier: top (67 to 100 percent), middle (36 to 66 percent) or low (0 to 33 percent), with a suggested action for each, and the hiring company takes the final decision on next steps.¹ Its FAQ describes the scored interview as a replacement for the 20-minute recruiter phone screen, with people interviewing the candidates who go through.²

US firms describe the same split. J.P. Morgan's 2028 Houston investment banking posting calls the HireVue a chance to bring your resume to life for its recruiting team and hiring managers.³ Its hiring FAQs say recorded interviews can evaluate skills such as verbal presentation and technical ability.⁴ EY's privacy notice for its HireVue tools says they replace long forms and pre-screening while keeping person-to-person interaction and human decision-making.⁵

Lazard publishes a notice on its AI video interview tool, which comes from a different vendor. It scores the text transcript against job competencies, does not capture voiceprints or face scans, and a recruiter makes the decision; you can ask for a non-AI format or for a human to review the output.⁷ It is a useful picture of what an AI-scored recorded interview at a bank looks like when the firm spells it out.

Illinois was first. Its Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act covers jobs based in Illinois: before the interview, an employer that uses AI analysis of recorded videos must tell you, explain how the AI works and what general characteristics it evaluates, and get your consent. It may share your videos only with people whose expertise is needed to evaluate you, must delete them within 30 days of your request, and must report demographic data if AI alone decides who gets an in-person interview.⁸

New York City's Local Law 144 covers automated employment decision tools. An employer may not use one unless it has had a bias audit within the past year, a summary of that audit is public, and New York City residents get notice, which must name the qualifications or characteristics the tool assesses and come 10 business days before use.^9,10 If you live in New York City or are applying for a job based in Illinois, read every notice that arrives with your invite.