How to tell if a developer can code without AI, and how AI interview cheating detection works

AI interview cheating detection

AI interview cheating detection, on Arca.ph, is the watched session. A human proctor is on it. The developer shares the screen, and that screen is recorded. A phone sits beside them as a second camera, so the proctor can see who is taking the test. No outside help, and no AI unless the test allows it.

That is a setting you can order. It is the session a real person watched. You read it and decide. Two tests answer two different questions. A proctored coding test with no AI asks whether the work is theirs without an assistant. A test that allows AI asks how they build when an assistant is part of the job.

Interview cheating AI means an assistant is used when the interview forbids one. Coding interview AI cheating is that same gap inside a coding round. The round has to say which rule applies. A no-AI coding test and an AI-allowed build are different orders. Run the one that matches the job, or run both.

What a live coding round can show

Cheating on Tech Interviews Is Soaring. Managers Don't Know What to Do (Amanda Hoover, Business Insider, April 2, 2025) quotes Henry Kirk, a cofounder of Studio Init. He asked applicants not to use generative AI in the first technical coding part, and to show engineering plus AI skills in a later section. "They still cheated," he said. "It was so obvious." Hoover writes that some candidates looked off to the side, gave delayed answers, or copied and pasted full blocks of code instead of typing step by step. Some refused to share their screens or gave off-topic answers to spoken questions. Hoover writes that this led Kirk to believe they were reading large language model output word for word. Kirk's question about his own search, quoted by Hoover, is: "I have 400 applicants. How do I screen the people down to a manageable chunk of folks?" That 400 is his applicant count in the article.

The same article reports two company rules. Hoover writes that a Google spokesperson said applicants are told before interviews that using AI during them will disqualify them. Margaret Callahan, an Amazon spokesperson, told Hoover that candidates acknowledge they will not use generative AI during the interview process when it is not permitted. The rule is stated up front. The round either allows the assistant or it does not.

Hoover also writes about Hadi Chami, director of solution engineering at Apryse. After an early interview, Chami gives a take-home assignment, expects the applicant to use AI, and tells them they will walk him through the work. The walkthrough is how he sees whether they know why the code works. That is a reported practice at Apryse. On Arca.ph, the live version you can order is the pair-programming Fire Drill: the developer talks through choices while they build, and a real person watches.

A proctored coding test, with or without AI

Use the no-AI coding test when you want to see someone think without an assistant. The proctor and the two cameras are there so the work is theirs. The screen share is one camera. The phone beside the candidate is the second. A real person watches the screen and the candidate, so the session shows the work as it happens.

Use the AI-build hackathon when the job is building with AI. It is a 2-hour build. The candidate can use AI. The proctor still watches both cameras. This session shows how they build with an assistant. The no-AI coding test is the other order. You can order the no-AI coding test, the AI-allowed hackathon, or both.

The pair-programming Fire Drill is the live pairing option. The developer talks through choices while they build, on a real-world problem. Order it when you want to hear the reasoning in the same session as the code. Recorded reference checks sit beside the tests. They are what people who worked with the candidate say, recorded so you can play them back. They are paid, with the tests, as what the candidate shows us.

Proctored English and a cognitive test are on the same menu when you want spoken English or a new problem that is not a coding task. A real person watches those too. See Proctored tests.

One fee, only if you hire

On the marketplace, you search with your own AI agent. Profiles are free to view once you sign up and sign the Arca.ph Client Agreement. You pay for the tests you order. If you hire someone Arca.ph introduced, you pay a one-time 15% fee of first-year pay, charged only on hire. A developer paid $3,000 a month earns $36,000 a year, so the fee is $5,400, once. You hire and pay the developer directly. If the hire is not the right fit, there is a 3-month free replacement. See pricing and Staffing agency markup rates: how to hire your developer directly.

Done for you is the other way. You bring the job. The Arca.ph team finds the people. Proctored English, cognitive and coding tests are included. The fee is 35% of first-year pay, charged once on hire. You still hire and pay the developer directly. There is a 3-month free replacement.

Create your account and start looking. Profiles are free to view once you sign up and sign the Arca.ph Client Agreement.