The world of hiring is evolving rapidly, and artificial intelligence (AI) is at the forefront of this transformation. On a recent episode of Ignite Podcast, host Brian Bell sat down with Prachie Banthia, founder and CEO of Lightscreen AI, a YC-backed startup that’s rethinking technical hiring. Their conversation covered everything from the inefficiencies of traditional hiring processes to the rise of AI-powered interviews and how the hiring landscape is shifting in response to AI advancements.
If you’re a founder, recruiter, or just someone interested in the future of hiring, this post will break down the key insights from the episode—including how AI is changing recruitment, why traditional hiring assessments are failing, and how Lightscreen AI is tackling the challenge of detecting cheating in technical interviews.
Meet Prachie Banthia: From Tech Leader to Startup Founder
Prachie Banthia has an impressive background in technology and product management. Before founding Lightscreen AI, she worked at Google as part of the prestigious APM program, led product teams at GoPuff, and served as Head of Product at Assembly AI. While she built a strong career in product management, the desire to start her own company was always in the background.
The entrepreneurial spark, as she describes it, had always been there—even dating back to her college days when she co-founded a dance company that still exists today. But it was her time at RideOS, a startup later acquired by GoPuff, that really cemented her decision. She realized that she was working harder than ever, not because of external pressure, but because she deeply cared about the team and mission. That experience confirmed her belief that she could thrive as a founder.
With the rapid advancements in AI and hiring technology, she saw a unique opportunity to build something truly impactful. Alongside her co-founder, Gavin, whom she met at Google and has known for over a decade, she made the leap into entrepreneurship with Lightscreen AI.
The Problem: Traditional Hiring Is Broken
For years, the hiring process—especially in technical roles—has been criticized as inefficient, outdated, and prone to bias. Take-home assessments, whiteboard coding interviews, and resume filtering have long been the standard, yet they don’t always identify the best candidates. Many companies still rely on time-consuming, manual interviews conducted by engineers, which slows down hiring and diverts valuable engineering resources away from core product work.
Another major issue? Cheating.
AI-powered tools like ChatGPT and AI-driven code assistants have made it easier than ever for candidates to game traditional coding assessments. In fact, Lightscreen AI found that nearly 40% of candidates cheat in technical interviews by using AI-generated answers. The old ways of assessing talent simply aren’t working anymore.
The Solution: AI-Powered Hiring with Lightscreen AI
Lightscreen AI is an AI-driven, voice and video-based technical interviewer that screens candidates at scale while assessing not just coding skills, but also critical thinking, problem-solving, and technical communication.
Unlike other hiring platforms, Lightscreen AI isn’t just a question bank—it acts as a drop-in replacement for human interviewers. Here’s how it works:
AI conducts real-time technical interviews via voice and video.
It doesn’t just assess coding skills—it evaluates how well candidates explain their solutions, problem-solve, and think critically.
It detects cheating by analyzing typing patterns, response times, mouse movements, and code progression to determine if answers were AI-generated.
It saves engineering time by handling the initial technical screen automatically, allowing human interviewers to focus only on top-tier candidates.
Early Success: AI vs. Traditional Hiring
Lightscreen AI has already demonstrated impressive results. In just two months since launch, companies using Lightscreen AI saw:
Only 12% of candidates passed the AI interview (compared to 70% passing in traditional screens).
50% of those who passed received job offers.
Engineers saved time by only focusing on pre-vetted, high-quality candidates.
This dramatically reduces time wasted on underqualified candidates and ensures hiring teams can focus on the best applicants.
Cheating in Technical Interviews: A Growing Problem
One of the most interesting parts of the conversation was the rise of AI-assisted cheating in hiring. As AI tools become more accessible, candidates have new ways to bypass traditional hiring assessments.
Prachie explained that candidates today can use real-time AI assistants that listen in on their interviews and suggest responses in real time. Some even copy-paste AI-generated answers or use browser plugins that offer instant solutions to coding problems.
To counteract this, Lightscreen AI employs a multi-layered approach:
Behavioral Analysis: Detects non-human-like code progression, rapid response times, and copy-pasting patterns.
Statistical Matching: Compares candidate responses against AI-generated solutions and previous candidate submissions.
Conversational Probing: AI asks follow-up questions and evaluates how well candidates explain their own code.
By combining these techniques, Lightscreen AI provides hiring teams with clear cheating detection reports, allowing them to remove bad actors from the pipeline early.
The Future of AI in Hiring
Prachie and Brian discussed how AI is reshaping the hiring process beyond just automation. Technical interviews are evolving to focus more on problem-solving, adaptability, and critical thinking, rather than just memorizing coding challenges.
A particularly interesting point was how AI is removing traditional hiring barriers like resumes. In the future, Prachie envisions a world where AI-verified credentials replace outdated resumes, providing companies with a trusted, skill-based evaluation of candidates.
Key Takeaways from the Episode
Traditional hiring is broken—manual technical interviews waste time, and many candidates cheat using AI.
AI-driven hiring is the future, enabling faster, fairer, and more scalable technical assessments.
Lightscreen AI detects cheating with multi-layered AI analysis, preventing candidates from using AI to fake skills.
AI is changing what hiring managers look for—problem-solving and adaptability now matter more than rote coding skills.
Founding a startup is about the right co-founder, not just the right idea—Prachie chose her co-founder first and iterated on the product idea second.
Final Thoughts: Is AI the Future of Hiring?
Lightscreen AI represents a paradigm shift in how companies evaluate talent. With AI handling the initial screening, hiring managers can focus on human-centric decisions, like cultural fit and leadership potential.
Prachie’s journey from Google PM to startup founder also serves as an inspiring example of how AI is removing traditional barriers to innovation—whether in hiring or entrepreneurship.
If you’re a hiring manager, founder, or recruiter looking to streamline hiring and reduce bias, Lightscreen AI might be the solution.
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Chapters:
Introduction and Guest Overview (00:01 – 00:32)
The Founder’s Journey (00:32 – 02:14)
The Problem with Traditional Hiring (02:14 – 05:14)
Lightscreen AI: What It Does & Why It Matters (05:14 – 07:33)
The Role of AI in Hiring (07:33 – 10:42)
The Rise of AI-Assisted Cheating (10:42 – 14:16)
Early Success: Real-World Results from Lightscreen AI (14:16 – 20:03)
How Lightscreen AI Evaluates Candidates (20:03 – 23:18)
AI’s Impact on the Future of Work (23:18 – 26:29)
YC Experience & Startup Lessons (26:29 – 29:16)
Advice for Aspiring YC Founders (29:16 – 35:02)
Rapid Fire: AI, Entrepreneurship & Hiring Tips (35:02 – 38:18)
Wrap-Up & Where to Learn More (38:18 – 42:17)
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