All 74 questions
What are supervised, unsupervised, self-supervised, and reinforcement learning, and when would you use each?
Asked in 14 of 320 interviews · last asked Oct 19 · Concept · Junior
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Supervised learning uses labeled examples to predict outputs, such as spam labels. Unsupervised learning finds patterns without labels, such as customer groups. Self-supervised learning creates prediction targets from the data itself, often to pretrain models. Reinforcement learning learns actions through interaction and rewards, useful for sequential decisions such as robot control.
- Use supervised learning when you have labeled examples for the prediction task.
- Use unsupervised learning to explore structure, group similar items, or reduce dimensions.
- Use self-supervised learning to learn useful representations from unlabeled data, such as by predicting hidden words.
- Reinforcement learning aims to maximize total reward over time; rewards can be delayed.
What the interviewer checks: The interviewer checks whether you understand each learning signal and can match it to a suitable task.
Other ways it was asked
- “What is the difference between supervised and unsupervised learning?”
- “What is supervised learning?”
- “What are the types of machine learning?”
What is the difference between AI, machine learning, and deep learning?
Asked in 6 of 320 interviews · last asked Aug 9 · Concept · Junior
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AI is the broad field of building systems that perform tasks that usually need human intelligence. Machine learning is a part of AI where systems learn patterns from data instead of relying only on fixed rules. Deep learning is a part of machine learning that uses neural networks with many layers.
- AI includes both learning systems and rule-based systems.
- Deep learning often learns useful features directly from raw data, such as images.
- Deep learning often needs more data and computing power than simpler machine learning methods.
- Generative AI creates content, such as text or images; modern systems usually use deep learning.
What the interviewer checks: The interviewer checks whether you understand how these fields fit together and what makes each different.
Other ways it was asked
- “What is the difference between machine learning and deep learning?”
- “What is the difference between AI and deep learning?”
- “What's the difference between AI, machine learning, deep learning, and generative AI?”
What is the difference between LLM and AI?
Asked in 4 of 320 interviews · last asked Oct 22 · Concept · Junior
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AI is the broad field of building systems that perform tasks requiring intelligence. An LLM, or large language model, is one type of AI trained to process and generate language. An AI agent is a system that takes actions toward a goal, often using an LLM to choose steps and tools.
- All LLMs are AI, but not all AI systems are LLMs.
- AI also includes systems for image recognition, recommendations, and other tasks.
- Agentic AI adds goal-directed actions, often through tools and feedback.
- An LLM alone is not automatically an AI agent.
What the interviewer checks: The interviewer is checking whether you can distinguish the broad field, a model type, and a system that takes actions.
Other ways it was asked
- “What is the difference between agentic AI and an LLM?”
- “What is the difference between an AI agent and an LLM?”
- “Is an LLM a form of AI?”
How would you explain machine learning to a high school student?
Asked in 3 of 320 interviews · last asked Aug 13 · Concept · Junior
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Machine learning is a way for computers to learn patterns from examples instead of being given a rule for every case. For example, a spam filter learns from emails labeled as spam or not spam, then predicts whether new emails are spam. It can make mistakes, especially when new examples differ from what it learned from.
- Training means learning patterns from data.
- The goal is to make useful predictions on new examples, not just memorize old ones.
- Poor or unrepresentative training data can lead to poor predictions.
What the interviewer checks: The interviewer wants to see whether you can explain the core idea accurately without technical terms.
Other ways it was asked
- “What is machine learning?”
- “How would you explain machine learning to a 9th or 10th grade student?”
How would a traditional rule-based solution to distinguish apples from oranges compare with a machine learning-based solution?
Asked in 2 of 320 interviews · last asked May 7 · Concept · Junior
Other ways it was asked
- “How would you implement a program to distinguish apples from oranges using traditional methods, and how would you approach it with machine learning?”
Can you tell me what AI is?
Asked in 2 of 320 interviews · last asked Oct 3 · Concept · Junior
Other ways it was asked
- “What is an AI?”
Can you explain what generative AI is?
Asked in 2 of 320 interviews · last asked Jul 31 · Concept · Junior
Other ways it was asked
- “What is generative AI, and what does it do?”
Can AI systems be built using open-source or closed-source models, and how do those approaches differ?
Asked in 2 of 320 interviews · last asked Oct 13 · Concept · Junior
Other ways it was asked
- “What is the difference between open-source and closed-source AI models?”
Why is Python used in machine learning?
Asked in 2 of 320 interviews · last asked Aug 14 · Concept · Junior
Other ways it was asked
- “Why is Python used in AI and data science?”
What are tensors, and how are they used in machine learning?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Concept · Junior
Given two matrix shapes, can you multiply them, and what are the output dimensions?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Concept · Junior
Other ways it was asked
- “If A is 128×256 and B is 256×800, what is the output dimension when you multiply them?”
- “If A is 128×256 and B is 800×246, what is the output matrix?”
- “Can a 2×3 matrix be multiplied by a 3×2 matrix, and what are the dimensions of the result?”
What data do you pass to scikit-learn to train a model, and what does the training call return?
Asked once · last asked Sep 10 · Concept · Junior
What is supervised machine learning, and how are training and test data used?
Asked once · last asked Mar 24 · Concept · Junior
What type of machine learning would you use to train a robot to walk on newly discovered planets, with no prior training data, learning from each new terrain it encounters?
Asked once · last asked Apr 20 · Scenario · Mid-level
What is data mining, and how does it differ from simple data querying?
Asked once · last asked May 1 · Concept · Junior
What are the major data mining functionalities?
Asked once · last asked May 1 · Concept · Junior
What are data mining task primitives?
Asked once · last asked May 1 · Concept · Junior
What types of operations are performed in online analytical mining (OLAM)?
Asked once · last asked May 2 · Concept · Mid-level
What attributes would you store during fit or fit_transform to support stateful behavior, and how would you ensure get_params() and set_params() still work for scikit-learn cloning?
Asked once · last asked May 3 · Concept · Senior
Could you measure the weights of apples and oranges statistically and hard-code those values? What would be the drawbacks of this approach?
Asked once · last asked May 7 · Scenario · Junior
How do you typically frame a business question as a data science problem, and what information do you need at the outset?
Asked once · last asked Jun 26 · Scenario · Mid-level
How do you decide which AI or machine learning framework to use for a particular project?
Asked once · last asked Jul 1 · Scenario · Mid-level
If A is a real symmetric n by n matrix, why does the quadratic form x^T A x attain its minimum over |x| = 1, and what is that minimum in terms of A's eigenvalues?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Concept · Mid-level
How do matrix addition, subtraction, and multiplication work?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Concept · Junior
Under what condition can two matrices be added?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Concept · Junior
Does high accuracy in an image classification system mean that it has human-like visual perception?
Asked once · last asked Aug 12 · Concept · Mid-level
Can you explain with a practical example how models can fail to understand objects semantically and instead focus on superficial cues?
Asked once · last asked Aug 12 · Concept · Mid-level
How could the concepts of extended mind and embodied cognition be applied to AI systems, and how might they affect system performance?
Asked once · last asked Aug 13 · Concept · Senior
What do extended cognition and distributed cognition mean, and how are these concepts related to AI systems?
Asked once · last asked Aug 13 · Concept · Senior
What tools can we use to teach machine learning to 9th or 10th grade students?
Asked once · last asked Aug 13 · Tooling · Junior
Tell me about your experience working with machine learning or deep learning frameworks. What have you built? What challenges did you run into?
Asked once · last asked Aug 26 · Behavioral · Mid-level
How do you see machine learning models integrating with traditional data analysis methods in the future?
Asked once · last asked Sep 18 · Mid-level
When would you choose AI instead of conventional automation, and why?
Asked once · last asked Sep 28 · Concept · Senior
Other ways it was asked
- “Why did you choose AI instead of conventional automation?”
What recent development in the AI vendor space has most impressed you, and where do you think vendors are overselling the hype?
Asked once · last asked Oct 7 · Senior
Imagine you are the Technical Success Manager for a large retail customer starting its OutSystems journey. In your first meeting with both business and technical stakeholders, how would you explain what AI is and how they can leverage it?
Asked once · last asked Oct 23 · Scenario · Senior
What is a vector in AI?
Asked once · last asked Aug 19 · Concept · Junior
Other ways it was asked
- “What are vectors used for in AI?”
How are distribution functions used in machine learning models?
Asked once · last asked Mar 5 · Concept · Mid-level
What is meant by unsupervised modeling?
Asked once · last asked Mar 5 · Concept · Junior
What recent developments in artificial intelligence are you following?
Asked once · last asked Mar 20 · Concept
What is the difference between an AI model and traditional programming?
Asked once · last asked Mar 24 · Concept · Junior
What is reinforcement learning?
Asked once · last asked Mar 24 · Concept · Junior
What is unsupervised learning, and does it use labeled or unlabeled data?
Asked once · last asked Apr 20 · Concept · Junior
What do you mean by “traditional AI”?
Asked once · last asked Apr 21 · Concept · Junior
What motivated the development of data mining?
Asked once · last asked May 1 · Concept · Junior
What do you understand about AI products?
Asked once · last asked May 6 · Concept · Junior
What is the main drawback of distinguishing apples from oranges using hard-coded weight values?
Asked once · last asked May 7 · Concept · Junior
Can you explain the data science life cycle?
Asked once · last asked May 12 · Concept · Junior
Do production machine-learning models necessarily use neural networks to make predictions?
Asked once · last asked May 22 · Concept · Junior
Can you explain the difference between supervised learning and unsupervised learning to a nontechnical stakeholder who doesn't understand AI?
Asked once · last asked May 30 · Concept · Junior
Where does mathematics come into developing an AI model?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Concept · Mid-level
Must the inner dimensions of two matrices match for matrix multiplication?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Concept · Junior
Other ways it was asked
- “Is it compulsory that the inner dimensions should match for multiplication?”
What is the difference between matrix multiplication and matrix product?
Asked once · last asked Jul 16 · Concept · Junior
Can you name some AI and machine learning techniques?
Asked once · last asked Jul 13 · Concept · Junior
What is the difference between a sparse matrix and a dense matrix?
Asked once · last asked Nov 20 · Concept · Junior
How do you compare different AI frameworks, and what factors distinguish them?
Asked once · last asked Jul 20 · Concept · Mid-level
What tools and approaches do you use to build AI solutions?
Asked once · last asked Jul 23 · Tooling · Mid-level
What topics are there in machine learning?
Asked once · last asked Jul 26 · Concept · Junior
Which Python library has logistic regression?
Asked once · last asked Jul 26 · Concept · Junior
What is the difference between AI and DL?
Asked once · last asked Aug 6 · Concept · Junior
What is the difference between artificial intelligence and machine learning?
Asked once · last asked Aug 13 · Concept · Junior
What is machine learning, and how is it different from traditional programming?
Asked once · last asked Aug 21 · Concept · Junior
What is the difference between supervised learning and deep learning?
Asked once · last asked Aug 31 · Concept · Junior
What does a data analyst do, and how is it different from a data scientist?
Asked once · last asked Sep 8 · Concept · Junior
What is data mining?
Asked once · last asked Sep 9 · Concept · Junior
How would you describe artificial intelligence as a discipline?
Asked once · last asked Sep 14 · Concept
What is the difference between AI and blockchain?
Asked once · last asked Sep 15 · Concept · Junior
Can you explain machine-learning libraries and list a few examples?
Asked once · last asked Sep 15 · Concept · Junior
What is the difference between a data engineer and a data scientist?
Asked once · last asked Sep 21 · Concept · Junior
What is KDD, and when would you use it?
Asked once · last asked Oct 8 · Concept · Mid-level
Is regression a type of supervised or unsupervised learning?
Asked once · last asked Oct 9 · Concept · Junior
Is classification a type of supervised or unsupervised learning?
Asked once · last asked Oct 9 · Concept · Junior
What open-source AI models are you familiar with?
Asked once · last asked Oct 13 · Concept · Junior
What are the possible pitfalls of AI?
Asked once · last asked Oct 23 · Concept · Mid-level
How would you quickly build the machine-learning skills needed for a role?
Asked once · last asked Oct 24 · Scenario
More Machine Learning interview questions
- All Machine Learning interview questions
- Data Preprocessing and Feature Engineering Interview Questions
- Machine Learning Algorithms and Model Selection Interview Questions
- Model Training and Hyperparameter Tuning Interview Questions
- Cross-validation and Data Leakage Interview Questions
- Model Evaluation Metrics Interview Questions
- Applied Machine Learning Interview Questions
- Search and Recommendation System Interview Questions
- MLOps and Model Deployment Interview Questions
How this list is made
Every question here was asked by a real interviewer in a real job interview that a candidate ran MeetAssist in. After the call, the interviewer's questions are pulled from the transcript. Practice sessions, tests, exams and anything that was not a job interview are dropped.
Questions are rewritten so they make sense on their own: names of people, employers and clients are removed, and speech-to-text mistakes are fixed. Small talk, logistics and questions about one candidate's own résumé are left out. Rephrasings of the same question are merged, and the count is the number of different interviews it came up in.
The interviews come from candidates who use MeetAssist, so they lean towards software, data and AI roles: the shares describe these interviews, not every Machine Learning interview. Answers to the most asked questions are written and checked by an editor; a "common mistake" is shown only when reviews of real answers in these interviews show it, with the count.
320 interviews, 221 candidates, Nov 2025 to Oct 2026. Updated every month with new interviews.
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