Lightscreen AI is a Y Combinator-backed platform that provides an AI-powered voice and video interviewer for technical hiring. Engineering teams use Lightscreen to screen candidates through conversational coding assessments that evaluate problem-solving process and critical thinking skills rather than just final code output. Founded in 2024 by Prachie Banthia and Gavin Saldanha, the company raised seed funding from Y Combinator and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.
How It Works
- Candidates join a voice-based session with the AI interviewer that works through coding problems collaboratively like a pair programmer. The AI asks clarifying questions, probes the candidate thought process, and evaluates their approach step by step rather than just checking the final answer. After the interview, the system generates a rubric-based evaluation with specific evidence and feedback for the hiring team.
- The platform monitors the full feed of keystrokes, video, and audio throughout the session. Behavioral analysis compares response timing and code progression patterns against expected human performance to flag potential AI-assisted cheating. The cheating detection report allows hiring teams to remove bad actors from the pipeline early.
Key Capabilities
- Conversational AI interviews. The voice-based interviewer can cover any technical subject including general programming, data structures, algorithms, system design, and front-end engineering with React JS. The AI avoids hallucinations by grounding evaluations in specific examples from the candidate performance.
- Multi-modal cheating detection. Lightscreen combines typing pattern analysis, statistical matching against AI-generated solutions, response time analysis, mouse movement tracking, and conversational probing where the AI asks candidates to explain their own code. The company reports that nearly 40% of candidates attempt to cheat on technical assessments using AI-generated answers.
- Coffee Chats. Voice-based conversational screenings for early-stage candidate evaluation that assess communication skills and cultural fit before committing to full technical interviews.
- Multi-step workflow automation. Beyond interviews, Lightscreen automates resume screening, background check processing, scheduling coordination, and email correspondence through natural-language-configured workflows.
- ATS integration. Lightscreen connects with Greenhouse and other ATS platforms through APIs, enabling automated candidate sync, assessment stage management, and unified dashboard coordination.
Intended Users
Lightscreen serves engineering teams at high-growth startups and recruiting agencies that need to scale technical hiring. It is also used by enterprise organizations for high-volume frontline hiring in warehouse, retail, healthcare, and call center operations.
Pricing
Lightscreen uses an enterprise pricing model with plans designed to scale with hiring volume. Specific pricing is not publicly disclosed and requires contacting the sales team.
Privacy and Security
Lightscreen processes biometric data including voice recordings and video for interview assessment. The platform relies on AI service providers including OpenAI and Anthropic. It maintains compliance with GDPR, UK GDPR, CCPA, and other privacy regulations. Candidate personal information is retained only as long as necessary for the hiring process.
