AIex is a name I came up with for Alex -- I don't mean anybody whose name is Alex, sorry, no offense. I mean the AI interview company named Alex.

Since this third-party interview tool is AI-powered, why not call it AI-ex or AIex? It's like how people call agents aigents. Very easy to tell them apart.

How did I start with this terrible date I had with AIex? Well well. It all started with my journey to internships and jobs.

For your information, I am a Computer Information Systems undergraduate. I am actively looking for positions, open to either internships or contracts.

To do this, I have to aggressively revise my resumes, tailor them to the job descriptions, and wait! -- for an interview.

Unfortunately, so far I haven't received any human interviews. I understand very well that the job market is going crazy, especially since the ZIP code where I live is super competitive, with all these tech bros. Oh my gosh I hate competing for positions with them... Who can compete with and beat them? Despite their moral shortcomings, they fit the industry so well that they are the stereotypes, and, not gonna lie, bosses love them! Ah this is just my sarcasm. Sorry. No offense.

So... in October, I applied for a summer intern position at a famous company. A week later, I received an AI pre-screening invitation email from the company Alex.

What is a pre-screening anyway? Although an interview is a process for the human resources department to get to know the candidate better, they will also pre-screen the candidate for the interview. From what I've read online, it may include questions like Do you need a visa sponsor? -- which is even weird! Because don't you put these types of questions in your application forms?

Anyway! Let's say this is very normal in today's job application process. AI pre-screening is here because there aren't many people to pre-screen every candidate for potential future interviews. The entire human resources industry is shrinking, too. So are the recruiters. Now you might have this aha! in your head -- yes. They cleverly, maybe this is the right term to use here, implement AI tools as their pre-screeners.

Do I feel bad about it? Of course I do, but mainly about how we have to implement AI tools into our workflows because we have fewer, and fewer real humans. The overall economy is going downward, so I don't blame companies for using AI tools in their application processes.

But I blame them for abusing it in the completely wrong way.

Back to my date with AIex. I scheduled my appointment with it and was waiting for the call. Five minutes, ten minutes... Even after an hour, I didn't receive anything from AIex, except for this your appointment happens 1 hour later email from it.

I was overwhelmed, of course. I rescheduled my appointment and waited another hour. It just... wasn't happening.

I wrote an email to AIex, saying I hadn't received a call from you guys. One minute later, I received an email from AIex. No, I don't mean AIex's employees or customer service, I mean the AI tool AIex. It happily generated a slop email for me that had nothing to do with my question, right in my mad face.

It was such a bullshit experience.

Okay, okay... whew... calm down... chill... Cytrogen you are such a chill little girl, who even shares her love with a cockroach... yes, yes you do know how tough today's industry is... recruiters are trying their best to read and evaluate everyone's skills and suitability... it's going to happen anyway. We just have fewer recruiters for more candidates...

But didn't I apply to a famous, big company? Why is it using this unstable AI service? Why can't I find that company's contact information? Why is AIex the company that's reaching out to me? Why the hell are you replying to me using that stupid AI tool? And last of the least, don't I kill cockroaches anytime I see them?

I read Just a little AI resistance, as a treat from Terence Eden, and it was impressive that he stood out by calling AI-generated email slop rude. Whoa! Straight to the point!

So I pulled out my keyboard and started typing: I want to talk to a real human!

A few seconds later, AIex responded: Got it. Someone on our team will follow up to help you!

Then I waited, and waited, and waited... and I wrote this article, because nobody fucking showed up.

I hate AIex.