Deepfake AI Applicants Are Stealing Jobs From You

One of the many reasons sending your application to a company is like tossing it directly into the garbage nowadays is that the job landscape has become flooded with AI-generated resumes. Some are taking it a step further, using deepfake job candidates who are slipping past hiring managers with an untrained eye.

These jobs don’t end up going to people who actually need them. They’re going to people who go on to commit corporate fraud, play key roles in data breaches, and even become national security threats.

According to a survey conducted by career resource site Resume Genius, 17 percent of U.S. hiring managers say they’ve encountered deepfake applicants in job interviews. Essentially, they are interviewing AI-generated puppets that lip-synch their way through interviews.

As CNBC reported, research and advisory firm Gartner predicts that by 2028, one in four job seekers will be fake. Not just “I fudged some facts on my resume to look better” kind of fake, but fully fabricated identities.

Nowadays, it’s incredibly easy to invent a whole new person in just a few clicks. A headshot, a few seconds of stolen voice audio, sprinkle in some AI wizardry, and voila. You’ve got yourself a fake person ready to charm HR via Zoom. For scammers, the goal isn’t just getting a paycheck. It’s also about infiltrating systems, exfiltrating data, and in some cases, funneling money to sanctioned nations like North Korea.

And yes, the stakes of the problem reach as high as one of the most notoriously unstable governments on earth. In May 2024, the U.S. Justice Department revealed that over 300 U.S. companies had unknowingly hired North Korean operatives posing as remote IT workers. That covert job hunt earned them at least $6.8 million, potentially funding who-knows-what. They did it using stolen American identities, VPNs, and the digital equivalent of a Mission: Impossible mask.

Speaking to CNBC, experts like Aarti Samani warn that this legitimate national security concern might be our new normal. When fake candidates from hostile nations land jobs in sensitive industries, they don’t just steal salaries, they open the door to cyberespionage and illicit finance.

You, the average person just looking for a job to pay the bills, couldn’t care less who is taking your job, even if it leads directly to major data breaches and national security threats. You are a real candidate looking for a real job that pays real money, and now you are going to have to be subjected to whatever security measures are put in place to ensure that you are who you say you are.

Trust is eroding, and you, the innocent bystander, can do nothing about it. You’re going to have to suffer through whatever obnoxious or humiliating defense measures get put up to block it all to even have the faintest hope of getting a job one day.