HackerRank has launched Chakra, an AI agent designed to conduct job interviews and evaluate candidates. The tool observes how applicants solve tasks, assessing their critical thinking, judgment, and AI fluency. During a six-month beta phase, the system conducted over 500,000 interviews with companies like Snowflake, Snorkel, and Capgemini.
Chakra replaces traditional multi-stage hiring processes, such as recruiter screens and take-home assessments, by consolidating them into a single session. Candidates work on real-world code repositories with an integrated AI assistant. The system asks follow-up questions to understand the reasoning behind a candidate's approach.
According to CEO Vivek Ravisankar, the use of AI in interviews has reduced suspicious activity by 70% to 80% compared to traditional assessments. The company claims that providing candidates with AI tools decreases the incentive to use unauthorized external assistance during the evaluation process.
While Chakra scores candidates based on employer-defined criteria, the final hiring decision remains with human recruiters. HackerRank is developing the tool to comply with regulatory requirements, including bias audits, as the use of automated hiring systems faces increasing scrutiny from authorities.
