Meta is experimenting with a fresh approach to its coding interviews by allowing select applicants to use artificial intelligence (AI) tools during the process. According to a report from 404 Media, this new interview method is still in its early stages and being rolled out to a limited group of candidates. The main goal behind this trial is to simulate a more realistic work environment, where developers often use AI tools in their daily responsibilities.

To shape and refine the process, Meta has involved its own engineers in mock interview sessions. The feedback from these internal trials will help determine the final format and the types of questions candidates will encounter when the method is implemented on a broader scale.

An internal post on Meta’s message board explains the rationale behind the change:

“Meta is developing a new type of coding interview in which candidates have access to an AI assistant. This is more representative of the developer environment that our future employees will work in.”

This move is in line with Meta’s broader vision of integrating AI across its operations. By allowing AI support during interviews, the company aims to evaluate how well candidates can adapt to real-world tech environments—where AI is expected to play a key role in day-to-day engineering tasks.

The initiative also reflects CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s strong belief in AI’s potential to reshape the tech workforce. Earlier this year, he remarked,

“I think this year, probably in 2025, we are going to have an AI that can effectively be a midlevel engineer.”

He further added that over time, much of the code driving Meta’s platforms could be produced by AI rather than human developers.

In a subsequent interview, Zuckerberg echoed a similar prediction:

“Sometime in the next 12 to 18 months, we’ll reach the point where most of the code that’s going towards [AI] efforts is written by AI.”

While many tech companies encourage employees to use AI tools in their daily workflows, few have ventured into integrating such tools into the hiring process. In fact, some organizations—such as Anthropic, creators of the Claude AI chatbot—strictly prohibit the use of AI during interviews. Meanwhile, the emergence of covert online tools that help candidates secretly use AI during coding rounds has raised ethical concerns across the industry.

There is also growing debate around the evolving profile of software engineers. Some developers worry that over-reliance on AI could result in professionals who are skilled at prompting machines but less capable of writing or debugging complex code independently.

In response to these concerns, a Meta spokesperson emphasized the practical nature of the pilot program, stating:

“We are obviously focused on using AI to help engineers with their day-to-day work, so it should be no surprise that we are testing how to provide these tools to applicants during interviews.”

For now, the AI-assisted interviews remain in testing and are not available to all applicants. However, this move marks a clear shift toward hiring engineers who are not only technically sound but also comfortable leveraging AI as a productivity and problem-solving tool.