Techie left embarrassed after AI assistant starts ‘reading Wikipedia’ during job interview

A virtual job interview that was meant to highlight a candidate’s professionalism turned into an awkward moment of chaos when Google Assistant unexpectedly activated mid-conversation. A tech professional shared her ordeal on Reddit, explaining how the voice assistant started reading a random Wikipedia article aloud during her online interview, throwing her completely off track.

“My body is literally still shaking from the amount of embarrassment that happened about an hour ago. I had a Zoom interview for a job I really wanted, and I was trying my best to appear professional and confident. Suddenly, the Google Assistant on my phone decided to activate on its own and started reading a Wikipedia article about something completely random out loud,” she wrote.

She added that in that instant, her “brain just shut down,” and she found it difficult to regain focus for the rest of the interview.

Mixed reactions online

The post drew varied responses from social media users. One commenter wrote, “Even ignoring what it says about potential job performance, nobody really wants to work with someone who completely lacks grace under pressure... If someone crashes out over their Google Assistant activating, how are they going to react after they really screw up?”

Another added, “I feel like there's more to the story here. Why did it upset you so much? It doesn't sound like a big issue to me. Just say ‘Excuse me’ and turn it off.”

A third person commented, “If this happened while I was interviewing, I would make sure the person was able to handle it and settle down first. People being interviewed are stressed, and we don’t get the best interview if we don’t help soothe that. I’m sorry it was stressful. I’m wishing for the best!”

Another wrote, “You could have just said, excuse me, I don't know why my phone is taking right now, and turned it off. These things happen.”