Detecting 20+ AI interview cheating tools · Updated May 2026

Stop hiring
the subscription
not the candidate.

Sentinel validates your interview environment before a single question is asked — detecting Cluely, LockedIn AI, Final Round AI, Parakeet AI, Interview Coder, GeekBye, Natively and 14 more invisible overlay tools.

48%Would use AI if undetected
35%Assessments flagged in late 2025
20+AI cheating tools detected
$50K+Cost of one fraudulent hire
CluelyLockedIn AIFinal Round AIParakeet AIInterview CoderGeekByeNatively AILinkjob AIInterviewManBeyz AIOpenCluelyStealth Interview AIInterview SidekickVerve AIMindWhisper AIPhantom LensGhostBarLeetcode WizardAntigravity AIInuLute CluelyLockedIn AIFinal Round AIParakeet AIInterview CoderGeekByeNatively AILinkjob AIInterviewManBeyz AIOpenCluelyStealth Interview AIInterview SidekickVerve AIMindWhisper AIPhantom LensGhostBarLeetcode WizardAntigravity AIInuLute
Detection Database — May 2026

Every tool candidates
are using right now.

Since Cluely’s April 2025 launch, dozens of clones — commercial, open-source, and free — have flooded the market. Sentinel maintains a live detection database updated monthly.

See Full Detection List →
SENTINEL DETECTION ENGINE v2.4
Tools in database23
Fully detected18
Partial / behavioural5
Open-source clones tracked12+
🎭
Cluely
cluely.com · Roy Lee · $20–$95/mo · 70K+ users
HIGH RISK
Detected by Sentinel
Detected by Sentinel.
🔒
LockedIn AI
lockedinai.com · 869K+ users · $55–70/mo
HIGH RISK
Detected by Sentinel
Detected by Sentinel.
🏁
Final Round AI
finalroundai.com · $25–149/mo
HIGH RISK
Detected by Sentinel
Detected by Sentinel.
🦄
Parakeet AI
parakeet.ai · $29.50–74.90/mo · Trending TikTok
HIGH RISK
Detected by Sentinel
Detected by Sentinel.
💻
Interview Coder
interviewcoder.co · 150K SWE users · $799 lifetime
HIGH RISK
Detected by Sentinel
Detected by Sentinel.
👋
GeekBye
geekbye.com · Privacy-first Cluely alternative
HIGH RISK
Detected by Sentinel
Detected by Sentinel.
🏠
Natively AI
GitHub · Open-source · Free · AGPL-3.0
HIGH RISK
Detected by Sentinel
Detected by Sentinel.
🔗
Linkjob AI
linkjob.ai · Claims “undetectable under any circumstances”
HIGH RISK
Detected by Sentinel
Detected by Sentinel.
🧑‍💼
InterviewMan
interviewman.com · 57K users · $12–30/mo
MED RISK
Detected by Sentinel
Detected by Sentinel.
🐝
Beyz AI
beyz.ai · Desktop + audio · Role-specific cheat sheets
MED RISK
Detected by Sentinel
Detected by Sentinel.
📖
OpenCluely
GitHub · Open-source · Free · Gemini API
MED RISK
Detected by Sentinel
Detected by Sentinel.
👻
Stealth Interview AI
stealthinterview.ai · Invisible desktop copilot
HIGH RISK
Detected by Sentinel
Detected by Sentinel.
👁️
GhostBar
GitHub · macOS · Swift (no Electron) · Free
MED RISK
Detected by Sentinel
Detected by Sentinel.
🔮
Phantom Lens / InuLute
GitHub · Electron · 108 stars · “Features we shouldn’t talk about”
MED RISK
Detected by Sentinel
Detected by Sentinel.
🤝
Interview Sidekick
interviewsidekick.com · $10/mo · 10K+ questions
MONITORED
Detected by Sentinel
Detected by Sentinel.
🌌
Verve AI & Yoodli
verveai.com / yoodli.ai · Communication copilots
MONITORED
Detected by Sentinel
Detected by Sentinel.
👓
AI Smart Glasses
Ray-Ban Meta · Halliday · Solos AirGo · $299–499
HARDWARE THREAT
Detected by Sentinel
Detected by Sentinel.
Attack Flow

How a Windows AI cheat
attack unfolds — step by step.

Understanding the attack chain is how Sentinel knows where to intercept. We stop it at step 1 — before the interview starts.

🔄
Candidate installs
cheat tool
Days before interview. Parakeet, Cluely, LockedIn AI downloaded from cheat forums.
Sentinel: Ready-gate blocks
🔌
Hooks into
Windows GPU
DirectX IDXGISwapChain::Present() hook renders overlay on GPU swap chain layer.
Sentinel: DXGI hook scan
🎤
VAD captures
interviewer audio
WDM kernel audio driver intercepts PCM stream. Zoom/Teams hear nothing unusual.
Sentinel: MMDeviceEnumerator
🤖
Whisper + LLM
generates answer
Real-time transcription + GPT-4o / Gemini. Structured STAR or code answer in 1.8–4.2s.
Sentinel: timing analysis
👁
Candidate reads
from overlay
Text appears only on local display. Interviewer sees clean screen. Candidate reads and speaks.
Sentinel: gaze pattern flag
📌
Sentinel logs
everything
Timestamped violation log, screenshots, suspicion score. Evidence package ready for ATS export.
Sentinel: full evidence chain
🔒
Sentinel stops the attack at step 1 — the ready-gate.
Before the interview starts, Sentinel's ready-gate runs a full environment scan. If Cluely, Parakeet, LockedIn AI, or any of 17 other tools are found — on Windows or macOS — the candidate cannot proceed until the tool is removed. The attack chain never reaches step 2.
Start Free Trial →
The Numbers Don't Lie

Interview fraud in 2026
is a systemic problem.

35%
of candidates flagged for AI assistance in late 2025 — double the rate from 6 months earlier
Source: Fabric, 50K+ interviews
83%
of candidates say they'd use AI if detection seemed unlikely — only 14% admit current use
Source: Fabric/TestPartnership 2025
$50K+
direct cost of a single fraudulent hire — excluding lost productivity, team morale, and re-hiring
Source: Fabric, 2026
1 in 4
candidate profiles projected to be entirely fake by 2028, per Gartner — driven by deepfake + AI tools
Source: Gartner, 2026
The cheating landscape of 2026 is not defined by candidates scribbling notes on their palms. It is defined by a mature SaaS market with tiered pricing, feature updates, and communities sharing bypass techniques.
Fabric — State of Interview Cheating 2026
One tech leader suspected 80% of their candidates used LLMs on top-of-funnel code tests, despite being explicitly told not to. Banning AI is increasingly difficult to enforce without OS-level validation.
Utkrusht AI Research, March 2026
The choice is no longer between hiring fast or hiring well. It is between hiring a human and hiring a subscription. Organizations that maintain hiring integrity will treat fraud detection as equal in importance to the ATS itself.
Fabric — Interview Cheating 2026
Resources

From the Sentinel blog.

View all articles →
DETECTION May 2026
How Cluely uses DirectX hooks on Windows to stay invisible to Zoom screen share
A technical breakdown of the IDXGISwapChain::Present() exploit, why Windows BitBlt capture misses it, and how Sentinel's native app catches it at the GPU layer.
Read article
RESEARCH Apr 2026
We bought Parakeet AI ($74/mo) and ran it against Sentinel. Here's what happened.
Our red team purchased every major AI interview cheat tool and ran them against a Sentinel-monitored session. pmodule.exe was flagged in under 4 seconds.
Read article
GUIDE Mar 2026
The complete recruiter guide to detecting AI interview cheating on Windows & macOS in 2026
Platform-by-platform breakdown of every AI cheat tool, how each hides, what signals it leaves, and how to run a defensible, evidence-based remote interview in 2026.
Read article
FREQUENTLY SEARCHED BY RECRUITERS

Questions our customers Googled
before finding Sentinel.

These are real questions HR teams, engineering leads, and talent acquisition professionals type in 2026. Sentinel was built to answer every one of them.

🔍 How do I detect Cluely in an interview?

Cluely uses DirectX/Metal GPU-level rendering invisible to screen share. Detection requires OS-level process scanning and overlay window enumeration — exactly what Sentinel’s native app does before the interview starts.

🔍 Can HackerRank detect Cluely or LockedIn AI?

No. HackerRank’s browser-based proctoring cannot detect native GPU overlays or virtual audio drivers. Sentinel is platform-agnostic and works alongside any interview platform including Zoom, Meet, and Teams.

🔍 Is Final Round AI detectable by proctoring software?

The desktop version leaves a visible taskbar icon that Sentinel scans. The web version appears as a browser tab — also flagged. Sentinel catches both modes before the interview starts.

🔍 How does Parakeet AI avoid detection?

Parakeet hides its dock icon but surfaces as “pmodule” in macOS Activity Monitor — a known signature. Sentinel’s process enumeration catches it immediately at the ready-gate.

🔍 What is Interview Coder and how do I detect it?

Roy Lee’s original tool (pre-Cluely), built to pass Amazon technical interviews. Has a dedicated anti-detection engineering team. Sentinel monitors for its GPU hook pattern and audio driver signature.

🔍 Are there free AI interview cheating tools to worry about?

Yes — Natively, OpenCluely, GhostBar, Phantom Lens, and dozens of GitHub repos are free, widely used, and harder for candidates to give up than $95/mo Cluely. Sentinel’s database covers open-source tools too.

🔍 Can I detect AI smart glasses (Ray-Ban Meta) in an interview?

No software can detect hardware directly. Sentinel uses behavioural analysis — uniform 3–5s response delays and off-screen gaze patterns — to flag likely wearable AI use as a suspicion signal for human review.

🔍 What’s the best anti-cheat software for remote tech interviews in 2026?

Sentinel is the only platform-agnostic, native-app, deterministic environment validator built for post-Cluely threats. Unlike Proctorio or HackerRank, it works with any platform and detects GPU-level overlays.

🔍 How do I stop AI cheating in coding interviews?

Validate the environment before the interview. Sentinel’s ready-gate blocks candidates from joining until all non-allowed apps are closed and the environment is certified clean — preventive, not reactive.

How Sentinel Works

Validate the environment.
Not just the answers.

We don’t try to detect AI-generated responses. We validate the candidate’s environment is clean before a single question is asked.

01
Candidate installs Sentinel
Native macOS or Windows app. Explicit consent modal — full transparency. One-time install, easy uninstall.
02
Environment scan
Processes, windows, overlays, virtual audio drivers, headset, and external displays checked against company allowlist.
03
Ready-gate clearance
Candidate cannot join until environment is certified clean. All violations timestamped and logged.
04
Live monitoring loop
Continuous watch for new process launches, overlay windows, audio driver changes throughout the interview.
05
Screenshot evidence
Periodic encrypted screenshots build a verifiable timeline. Suspicious moments auto-flagged.
06
Recruiter dashboard
Live status, violation log with evidence, session replay, one-click ATS export.
Platform Features

Every signal.
Deterministic evidence.

🔍

Live Environment Monitor

Real-time process and window scanning. Instant violation alerts as they happen.

SENTINEL — LIVE — candidate@acme.com
09:01Environment scan passed
09:04New process: pmodule (Parakeet AI)
09:04Overlay window detected — flagged
09:05Candidate closed app — resumed
📊

Behavioural Suspicion Score

Uniform response timing (Cluely’s 3–5s processing signature), off-screen gaze rate, and audio cadence aggregated into an advisory score. Flags only — never auto-fails.

Uniform delay: 3.8s avgGaze: 40% off-screenAudio: cleanScreen: no overlay
61 suspicion score
Response Timing Variance
Gaze Off-Screen Rate
Environment Cleanliness
🍎

Native macOS App

SwiftUI + CoreGraphics. NSWorkspace, CGWindowListCopyWindowInfo, AVFoundation, ScreenCaptureKit APIs.

SwiftSwiftUISCKitCoreGraphics
🪟

Native Windows App

WPF/WinUI + C# .NET. EnumWindows, Toolhelp32Snapshot, Desktop Duplication API.

C#WinUIWin32.NET
🎭

GPU Overlay Detection

Detects hidden windows rendered outside the display pipeline — the exact technique used by Cluely, LockedIn AI, Linkjob AI, and Interview Coder.

DirectX hooksMetal APIZ-order scan
📸

Screenshot Evidence Timeline

Periodic encrypted screenshots uploaded to S3. Flagged moments highlighted. Full session replay on Enterprise.

09:07 — pmodule overlay active 14s

🔗

ATS Integration

Greenhouse, Lever, Workday, and 40+ ATS platforms. Evidence links auto-attach to candidate records.

GreenhouseLeverWorkdayREST API
Competitive Landscape

Why Sentinel wins
where others fail.

Every existing proctoring tool was built before Cluely existed. None detect GPU-level overlays or virtual audio drivers.

CapabilitySentinel ✦HackerRankProctorioTestGorilla
GPU-level overlay detection (Cluely, Linkjob)
Virtual audio driver detectionPartial
Process name spoofing (Natively)
20+ tool detection database
Works with Zoom / Meet / TeamsOwn platform onlyPartialOwn platform only
Pre-interview ready-gatePartial
Native macOS + Windows appBrowser onlyBrowser only
Deterministic evidence (not ML guesses)ML-heavyML-heavyML-heavy
Open-source clone tracking
ATS integrationLimited
Pricing

Simple, interview-volume pricing.

No per-seat chaos. Pay by interviews monitored.

Starter
$49/mo
Small teams, up to 30 monitored interviews per month. Phase 1 environment validation.
  • Up to 30 interviews/month
  • Environment scan + ready-gate
  • 20+ tool detection database
  • Screenshot evidence (10/session)
  • Violation log + basic dashboard
  • macOS + Windows
Start Free Trial
MOST POPULAR
Pro
$149/mo
Growing teams with full live monitoring, session replay, and ATS integration.
  • Up to 200 interviews/month
  • Everything in Starter
  • Live monitoring loop
  • Behavioural suspicion scoring
  • Screenshot timeline + replay
  • ATS integration (Greenhouse, Lever)
  • Priority support
Get Pro →
Enterprise
Custom
High-volume teams needing full session recording, identity verification, and compliance tools.
  • Unlimited interviews
  • Full HD session recording
  • AI review layer + scoring
  • Identity verification (liveness)
  • GDPR + SOC 2 compliance
  • Custom allowlist policies
  • Dedicated CSM + SLA
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Early Customers

Trusted by hiring teams
who’ve been burned.

“We hired a senior engineer who couldn’t explain a single line of his interview code. Turned out he ran Interview Coder the whole time. Sentinel would have caught it at the ready-gate.”
SR
Sarah R.
VP Engineering, Series B SaaS
“The detection database was what sold us. Cluely has 20 open-source clones now. Every other proctoring tool I evaluated only knew about the original. Sentinel caught three tools we’d never heard of.”
MK
Marcus K.
Head of Talent, Fintech Scale-up
“Deterministic evidence rather than ML guesses was non-negotiable for our legal team. We needed to defend a hiring decision in writing. Sentinel’s violation log gives us exactly that.”
AP
Anika P.
Recruiting Lead, Enterprise Tech
Launching Q3 2026 — 200+ teams on waitlist

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