Can You Use ChatGPT in a Technical Interview?

You work with an AI assistant every day — like 9 out of 10 software professionals, according to Google’s DORA report — and suddenly the technical interview arrives and nobody told you whether you can use it. Is it cheating? Is it expected? The short answer: it depends on the type of interview, and confusing one with the other can cost you the job.

Interviews split in two

Just like the junior market, hiring processes have divided:

Interviews where AI is allowed (and sometimes expected). More and more companies let you use your everyday tools, because they want to see you work the way you’ll actually work. Careful: they’re not evaluating whether AI can solve the problem — they already know it can. They’re evaluating how you direct it: what you ask for, how you detect when it hands you something broken, what you accept and what you discard, and whether you can explain every decision.

Interviews without AI. Other companies ban it on purpose, because they want to measure your fundamentals without a safety net: logic, data structures, independent judgment. They’re not “behind the times” — it’s an assessment design decision, and it’s just as valid.

This isn’t hypothetical: HackerRank recommends allowing AI on purpose, arguing that banning it tests a skill nobody uses on the job anymore. Meanwhile, Anthropic — the makers of Claude — asks candidates to complete live interviews without AI unless told otherwise. Two opposite policies, both deliberate, at the heart of the AI industry itself.

Rule number one: ask first

Don’t guess. Before the technical stage, one simple question sorts everything out:

“Can I use my usual tools, including AI assistants, or would you prefer I work without them?”

That question doesn’t hurt you: it helps you. It shows you understand that both formats exist and that you care about the rules of the game. Plenty of candidates fail not for using AI, but for using it without asking.

If AI is allowed: think out loud

The classic mistake is staying silent while the AI writes. If the interviewer can’t hear your reasoning, the AI gets the credit and you become invisible. Think out loud:

• Before asking: “I’m going to ask for X because the problem has this shape.”
• When it answers: “This is fine, but it misses this edge case — I’ll fix it.”
• When deciding: “I prefer this version because it’s simpler to maintain.”

Your value in that room is judgment, not typing. It’s the same skill companies say they’re looking for when they explain why they still hire juniors.

If AI is banned: practice without it, don’t sneak it in

Secretly using AI in an interview that bans it can get you disqualified on the spot, and in a market where every interview costs hundreds of applications, burning one that way is extremely expensive.

Real preparation looks different: practice without an assistant before the process. If you haven’t written a loop without autocomplete in a year, the interview is not the place to find out. Solve problems in a bare editor, on paper, explaining them to someone. AI can help you train — ask it to quiz you and correct you — but outside the room.

The fundamentals still matter

With or without AI, the basics still decide interviews: preparing your environment, camera, and communication for a video call, showing up rested, and knowing how to read the air of the conversation.

The question is no longer whether you “can” use ChatGPT in an interview. It’s whether you know when, how, and with what judgment — which is exactly what they’ll be paying you to know.

Have you had an interview where AI was allowed? How did it go? We’d love to hear from you 💬