Google may soon let software engineering candidates use AI during interviews

Google is testing a new AI-assisted interview process for software engineering candidates, allowing the use of its Gemini AI model during select coding rounds.

In Short

• Candidates may use Gemini during code comprehension rounds later this year
• The round involves reviewing code, spotting bugs, and improving efficiency
• Initial trials will cover select US teams hiring junior and mid-level engineers

Google is changing the way it interviews software engineering candidates. According to a report, the company’s new interview process may allow candidates to use AI assistants during parts of the hiring process instead of completely banning them. The report by Business Insider says the change is meant to better reflect how software engineers actually work today, where AI coding tools and assistants are increasingly used in real-world development. Rather than making interviews harder, Google appears to be adapting its hiring process to the “modern engineering landscape,” where using AI tools has become common.

The report says that beginning later this year, Google will allow job candidates to use a company-approved AI assistant during a specific part of software engineering interviews called the “code comprehension” round.

In this round, candidates will need to examine existing code, identify problems, fix bugs, and improve performance or efficiency. Instead of writing everything completely on their own, they may be able to use AI tools as part of the process.

According to the report, the new interview format will first be tested with select teams in the US for junior and mid-level engineering roles. If the experiment works well, Google plans to expand it to more teams and regions globally.

A Google spokesperson confirmed that the company is planning to introduce AI-assisted interviews. During the initial testing phase, candidates will use Google’s own AI model, Gemini, as the approved AI assistant in the interview process.

“We're always evolving our interview processes to ensure we're recruiting and hiring the best talent,” Brian Ong, vice president of recruiting at Google, told Business Insider. “As a part of that, we're rolling out a pilot for software engineering interviews to be more reflective of how our teams are operating in the AI era,” the Google spokesperson said in a statement to Business Insider.

Google testing new interview formats

Google plans to test its new AI-assisted interview process in different divisions of the company, including its Cloud business and the platforms and devices unit, starting this month.

According to the internal document, Google is also making several other changes to how software engineering interviews are conducted. One major change is in the “Googleyness and Leadership” round, which traditionally focused on behavioural and personality-based questions.

Under the new format, candidates will also discuss the technical design of projects they previously worked on.

For junior candidates, Google will replace one standard technical interview round with a more open-ended engineering challenge. Instead of solving fixed coding problems, candidates may be asked to approach broader engineering tasks and explain their thinking.

The document describes the overall interview process as “human-led, AI-assisted,” meaning human interviewers will still lead the process while candidates may use AI tools in some parts. Google says the goal is to make interviews more similar to how software engineers actually work today in the “GenAI era,” where AI tools are increasingly part of everyday workflows.

- Ends