In this article
Before you start
Why interviewers ask this
An employer that allows AI in the room tests whether you can steer a tool and still stand behind every line. Canva published the clearest public account. Its June 2025 engineering post says candidates are expected to use AI tools such as Copilot, Cursor and Claude, and that a pilot "AI-Assisted Coding" interview replaced the old fundamentals screen for backend and frontend roles (Canva Engineering Blog, June 2025).
Candidates with little AI experience often struggled, the post says, and the difficulty was judgment in guiding the tool, not coding ability. A weak candidate pastes the prompt and the answer. A strong one decomposes the task, checks the result and explains the choices. The coding interviews guide covers the classic version of the round.
The AI-assisted coding interview from first principles
In plain words
- AI-assisted coding interview
- An AI-assisted coding interview is a technical round in which the candidate may or must use an AI coding tool while solving a realistic programming task. It is graded on how the candidate uses the tool, not on whether the tool can solve the task.
- Prompt
- A prompt is the instruction a person gives an AI tool, written in plain language, along with any code or requirements the tool should work from. Its quality sets how useful the first answer is.
- Code ownership
- Code ownership is the expectation that you can explain, test and defend every line you submit, whoever or whatever wrote it. It is the standard the round is built to check.
Think of a pilot using autopilot. The autopilot flies the steady stretches. The pilot picks the route, watches the instruments and takes over when something looks wrong. The analogy breaks in one place. An interviewer can often see your whole conversation with the tool, so how you steer is part of the evidence, and a pilot rarely has that audience.
In one precise sentence, the round tests judgment about when to delegate, how to verify, and whether you can stand behind the result. The three steps below are the ones that decide most rounds. Each one names what goes in and what comes out, so you can check yourself against it during a round.
Step 1: Confirm what is allowed, and use the tool you are given
The first move is to find out whether AI is allowed and which tool to use. Canva tells candidates ahead of time that AI use is expected and encourages practice. Anthropic's published guidance says the opposite for live interviews: "This is all you–no AI assistance unless we indicate otherwise" (Anthropic, updated July 2025), and says it will be clear when AI is allowed.
Platforms now build the tool in. CoderPad's documentation (as of October 2026) describes an AI Assist that the interviewer can switch on or off per pad, with a shared mode that shows the prompt history, and says prompts and output are saved for playback (CoderPad documentation). Ask the interviewer before the round whether AI is allowed and which tool to use. The interview loops guide cites Anthropic's guidance, the Anthropic interview process page covers that employer's rounds, and questions to ask the interviewer lists good ones.
The input is an unclear rule. The output is a stated one, plus a tool you know how to use.
What the task looks like
Canva says it redesigned its questions "to be more complex, ambiguous, and realistic", and its example is "Build a control system for managing aircraft takeoffs and landings at a busy airport." Expect a multi-part problem with unclear requirements, not a single function to write. In July 2025, 404 Media reported, from internal Meta messages, that Meta would let some coding candidates use an AI assistant during interviews (404 Media, July 29, 2025); the part of the report we could read gives no round length or codebase layout, so we state none. CoderPad's documentation (as of October 2026) lists OpenAI's generative pre-trained transformer (GPT) models, Claude, Gemini and Llama in its AI Assist.
Step 2: Decompose the task and keep control of the design
The second move is to split the problem, give the tool only well-defined parts, and keep the design yourself. Decomposition means splitting an ambiguous requirement into pieces with clear inputs and outputs. Canva says its problems "can't be solved with a single prompt", so splitting the task is the skill tested. It expects AI for well-defined subtasks, clarifying questions, and critical review of generated code.
In practice, state the plan out loud before prompting: data structure, edge cases, order of work. An edge case is an unusual input, such as an empty list or a single item. Then prompt for one piece, such as a parser (code that reads text and turns it into structured data) or a helper (a small function that does one job for the main code), review it, and move on. The plan and prompts show how you think, as thinking aloud does in the classic round.
The input is an ambiguous task. The output is a plan and a set of small, checkable pieces.
Step 3: Review the output before you trust it
The third move is to treat every suggestion as a draft from an unreliable colleague and check it before building on it. Canva looks for candidates who can find and fix issues in AI-generated code. Generated code can run and still be wrong. In a 2021 study that prompted GitHub Copilot with 89 security-sensitive scenarios built around high-risk Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) types, about 40 percent of 1,689 programs were vulnerable, meaning they contained a security weakness (Pearce et al., 2021, arXiv 2108.09293). Newer tools were not measured, so read it as a reason to review, not a current rate.
A useful review runs in order. Read the code and say what it does in your own words. Run it on a normal input, then on an empty input, a single element and a large one. Name the time complexity. Fix what fails, and say why the tool got it wrong.
The input is a block of generated code. The output is code you have read, run and can explain.
Step-by-step description
- Confirm whether AI is allowed and which tool to use.
- Split the task and delegate only small, well-defined parts.
- Read, run and test every suggestion before building on it.
- Confirm what is allowed and which tool to use.
- Delegate small well-defined parts, then review the output and own the result.
Knowing it is half the job. Saying it is the other half.
Interview Clozo is an AI interview copilot for real interview rounds: it hears the question and puts a strong answer on your screen, and you say it in your own words. See the features or how it works.
Start Free Trial →The Staff-level answer
How would you approach a coding task if you were allowed to use an AI tool?
I would confirm the rules first, then say my plan out loud: the data structure, the edge cases and how I will test. I would give the tool only well-defined pieces, such as a helper or a parser, and keep the design myself. Every suggestion gets read, run on a normal, an empty and a large input, and checked for complexity before I build on it. When it is wrong, I say why, fix it, and add a test so it cannot return. I stay accountable for every line I submit, because the tool speeds up typing, not judgment.
What makes this Staff-level is that it names verification and accountability, not the tool: the answer would still hold if the tool were removed.
The rubric
| Dimension | Weak answer | Strong answer | Staff answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delegation | Pastes the whole problem | Hands over small, clear pieces | Chooses pieces by risk and keeps design |
| Review | Accepts the first output | Reads and runs it | Tests edge cases and names failure causes |
| Ownership | Cannot explain the code | Explains each line | Adds tests and states trade-offs |
| Communication | Silent while prompting | Narrates the plan | Narrates the plan and what would change it |
Text description of the diagram
- A weak candidate pastes the prompt and the answer.
- A strong candidate decomposes the task, checks the result and explains the choices.
The rows are our own synthesis of the behaviours Canva says it assesses; Canva is the one employer whose criteria we found in a public post (checked October 2026), so treat them as a study guide, not a company's marking scheme.
Three variants of this question
What do you do when the AI's code is wrong?
Say what is wrong and why before touching it: read the failing case, locate the faulty assumption, then fix it by hand or by a narrower prompt. Add a test for that case so the error cannot return silently.
How do you use AI when the interviewer wants to see you think?
Plan out loud first and write the core logic yourself, then use the tool for the routine parts. The plan and your prompts are the evidence of how you think.
What if you have never used the tool they provide?
Say so and spend the first minute learning its modes. Canva encourages practising with these tools in advance, and CoderPad's documentation lists separate ask, edit and plan modes, so know which one changes your code.
Common mistakes
- "I will paste the problem and submit what comes back" (wrong). The round grades judgment, and Canva found that guiding the tool was the hard part (right: decompose, delegate small pieces and review each).
- "I will use AI silently, because it is faster" (wrong). CoderPad saves every pad user's prompts and AI output for review, and some employers forbid AI in live rounds (right: confirm what is allowed and narrate your use).
- "The code ran, so it is correct" (wrong). Generated code can run and still be vulnerable or wrong on edge cases (right: test an empty, a single and a large input).
- "AI means I can skip the fundamentals" (wrong). Canva says code fluency and technical depth stayed absolute requirements (right: keep data structures and complexity sharp).
- "More prompts means a better round" (wrong). Volume is not a skill (right: fewer, well-scoped prompts with a stated plan).
Follow-up questions
Can you use AI in a coding interview?
Only when the employer says so. Canva expects it for backend and frontend roles, while Anthropic's guidance says live interviews allow no AI assistance unless the interviewer indicates otherwise, so ask in advance.
Which AI models can you use in an AI-assisted coding interview?
It depends on the platform and the interviewer's settings. CoderPad's documentation (as of October 2026) says its AI Assist offers OpenAI's GPT, Claude, Gemini and Llama models, and that the interviewer can switch the feature on or off per pad. Ask which one you will get.
How do companies grade an AI-assisted coding round?
Canva's post names what it assesses: knowing when and how to use AI, breaking down ambiguous requirements, making sound technical decisions, finding and fixing problems in generated code, and meeting production standards. Canva is the one employer whose criteria we found in a public post (checked October 2026).
What is Meta's AI coding interview?
In July 2025, 404 Media reported from internal Meta messages that Meta would let some coding candidates use an AI assistant during the interview process (404 Media, July 29, 2025). Ask the recruiter what your round allows.
Do I still need data structures and algorithms in an AI-assisted round?
Yes. Canva states that code fluency and technical depth were still absolute requirements, and you cannot review code you cannot read.
How do you use AI in a coding assessment?
Only where the assessment's rules allow it; many online assessments forbid AI, so confirm first. Where it is allowed, state a plan, prompt for one small piece at a time, and read and test each output on a normal, an empty and a large input. Saying your reasoning aloud is part of what is graded. For machine learning roles, the machine learning coding guide covers that variant of the round.
- An AI-assisted coding interview grades how you direct the tool, review its code and own the result.
- Policy varies: one employer expects AI, another's live-interview guidance allows none unless the interviewer says so.
- Review every suggestion: in a 2021 Copilot study built on high-risk security scenarios, about 40 percent of 1,689 programs were vulnerable.
- Decompose, delegate small well-defined pieces, and keep the design yourself.
- The fundamentals still count; you cannot review what you cannot read.
Sources
- Yes, you can use AI in our interviews (Canva Engineering Blog) — Canva (Simon Newton), 11 Jun 2025
- How to collaborate with Claude during our hiring process (guidance on candidates' AI usage) — Anthropic, 10 Jul 2025
- AI Assist in interviews, CoderPad documentation — CoderPad (page modified date from its structured data), 2 Jul 2026
- Meta is going to let job candidates use AI during coding tests (404 Media) — 404 Media (Jason Koebler), 29 Jul 2025
- Asleep at the Keyboard? Assessing the Security of GitHub Copilot's Code Contributions (arXiv 2108.09293 v3) — arXiv (Pearce et al.), 16 Dec 2021
