We’ve turned into a Hive, things are getting serious.

Their place in life is, at best, behind the wheel of a car or operating a machine, performing repetitive tasks until lunchtime, but they want more.
During the first, quick interview, or even the second, more detailed one, they will present themselves as pleasant people who may not understand everything, but overall, they give off a reasonable vibe; they will probably learn quickly on the job. You can even give them a test assignment, and if it's not done on paper in front of you, but remotely, they will complete it flawlessly.
They will be slow during the first week of their internship, "but that's normal," then during the first or second month, "okay, they're slowly getting the hang of it," then after six months, the manager won't care anymore; they seem to be doing something, and no major complaints are coming from that side, but those who work with them or supervise them see and understand that they are just an idiot who can, at best, do something according to instructions: "move the cursor 3 cm to the right and 5 cm up on this screen, and click once" – they are not capable of thinking or figuring out what should be happening in the overall process, nor can they take on even a microgram of responsibility and do something independently. To any criticism, you will hear "damn, I was distracted, sorry" at best, and at worst, "uh... well, I wasn't shown..." But even those who suffer from having such wonderful colleagues, but are not managers, will not have a strong desire to go to the boss and demand that someone else be found, because the training process was long and not very productive, and looking for a new idiot for six months in the hope that it will be better is also not a very optimistic scenario. If the idiot stays where they are, they will still be an idiot after a year, and after two, and after five. And if you try to replace them, you will change six idiots in three years, and either you will remain in the same position, or the twentieth one will be at least normal. After that, they will leave for somewhere else after a year. A cycle of mediocrity without a phase of victory.

I'm not quite sure, given my experience, what "cave" we're talking about here...?