A healthcare worker has been struck off after using AI to cheat on a job interview for the Royal Surrey County Hospital.

Aiwanehi Sandra Aigbokhaevbo was being interviewed for an oncology dietician role at the Guildford hospital. But her repeated lies and lack of remorse drove the Health and Care Professions (HCP) tribunal service to give her the most serious sanction.

The interview, conducted online over teams, began normally and she showed great enthusiasm and spontaneity for the role but when the questions focused on knowledge she became visibly hesitant and appeared to struggle.

She started asking the panel to repeat themselves over and over again, and her tone and facial expression suggested confusion, according to evidence given to the Health and Care Professions tribunal service (HCP).

Aigbokhaevbo, who was in Nigeria at the time of the interview, would then repeat the questions back again herself several times. 

Interviewers believed she doing this  for the AI to answer – and then reading the results from the screen.

After a long periods of silence she would come out very fluent and far more knowledgeable answers than someone interviewing for an entry-level role would be expected to have. 

The interviewers also each noticed her eyes would move side to side as though  reading from another screen as she delivered textbook answers.

“It was the sort of answer that might be expected of a candidate with several years of specialist oncology experience, not someone applying for an entry level role”, the HCP noted.

All of the interviewers came to the view she was using artificial intelligence to answer clinical questions.

She was then asked to complete a case study where, again, interviewers believed she was using AI.

Her answers were far more detailed and knowledgeable than someone at their entry level would be expected and she used full terminology versus the industry standard acronyms – which stood out given the tight deadline given to complete the work.

After the interview her answers were run through an AI check with striking similarities.

Aigbokhaevbo claimed she always repeated questions as a matter of course but the tribunal noted there had been no evidence of this during the hearing.

She claimed she was not reading but rather looking at the router next to her laptop  – but the panel said this was not credible.

She said she moved her screen during the interview to show she was alone in her room- but again the panel found this an unlikely response to whether she has been reading her answers. 

The hearing said it was satisfied Aigbokhaevbo used AI during the job interview and that it amounted to cheating and dishonesty.

This fell seriously short of standards expected and constituted misconduct.

When the allegations were put to Aigbokhaevbo she denied them and expressed no remorse, nor apologised. Instead, the panel said, she compounded her error with further lies that sought to cast doubt on the professional integrity and veracity of the HCPC.

The committee said striking off orders are last resort sanctions for serious persistent and deliberate acts, including dishonesty.

They are appropriate where the nature and gravity are such that anything less  would be insufficient to protect the public, public confidence in the profession, and public confidence in the regulatory process. 

They said her actions  undermined the integrity of the recruitment process, could have a potentially negative impact on the Trust – and could jeopardise patient care.

They also said there was a significant risk of repetition and  Aigbokhaevbo was untrustworthy in her willingness to tell lies.

They added: “Whilst the panel took full account of the financial and other hardship to (Aigbokhaevbo), the need to protect the public and the wider public interest must take priority over the Registrant’s interests. 

“The panel concluded that the appropriate sanction is a Striking Off Order. “