Meta is now allowing some coding job candidates to use an AI assistant during their interview process, according to internal communications seen by 404 Media. The company has also invited existing employees to volunteer for “mock AI-enabled interviews,” as it tests this new approach. This move is the latest signal that Silicon Valley giants are increasingly pushing software engineers to integrate AI into their work, with the broader aim of hiring candidates who can "vibecode"—using AI as part of the development process.
A recent post on Meta’s internal message board reads, “AI-Enabled Interviews—Call for Mock Candidates.” It states that Meta is developing a new type of coding interview where candidates will have access to an AI assistant, reflecting the future developer environment and making it harder for LLM-based cheating to occur. The post continues, “We need mock candidates. If you’d like to experience a mock AI-enabled interview, please sign up. The questions are still in development, and your data will help shape the future of interviewing at Meta.”
This shift aligns with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's vision for the future of coding. In various public statements, Zuckerberg has emphasized that software engineers at Meta are not only expected to use AI in their daily tasks but also to manage “AI coding agents” that will write code. “I think that by 2025, companies like Meta will have AI that effectively functions as a mid-level engineer, capable of writing code,” Zuckerberg told Joe Rogan in January. He added, “Eventually, much of the code in our apps, including the AI we generate, will be written by AI engineers instead of human engineers. People will be freed up to do more creative and innovative work.”
Earlier this year, Zuckerberg further elaborated, saying, “In the next 12 to 18 months, we’ll likely see a point where most of the code related to AI projects will be written by AI itself.”
While many tech companies have encouraged engineers to use AI tools, Meta is among the first to allow candidates to use AI during the interview process. This is a departure from companies like Anthropic, makers of the Claude AI tool, who have explicitly banned applicants from using AI during interviews. To bypass such restrictions, some candidates have reportedly turned to AI tools that secretly assist them during coding challenges. The debate around AI in interviews has stirred controversy in Silicon Valley, with some established engineers expressing concerns that future coders may be more adept at "prompting" AI than troubleshooting AI-generated code when issues arise.
A Meta spokesperson clarified, “We’re focused on helping engineers use AI in their day-to-day work, so it makes sense for us to explore how these tools can be integrated into the interview process for potential hires.”