Amazon's GenAI fluency interview round: what candidates report
Some Amazon SDE candidates now see a round on their schedule called "GenAI Fluency", or "AI Fluency and problem solving". It isn't an AI coding test. Candidates describe a discussion about how you use generative AI, often followed by a coding question. Reports are still few, so treat this as an early picture.
What Amazon says officially
Nothing that we could find. On 1 November 2026 we checked Amazon's SDE II interview prep page and its Interviewing at Amazon page. Neither mentions generative AI or an AI fluency round. Everything below comes from candidate reports.
What candidates report
- Where it sits. An SDE I candidate in January 2026 said that after clearing the coding rounds, the remaining rounds were "GenAI Fluency" and the Bar Raiser. They were told it would focus on GenAI fluency, with possible technical follow-ups (r/leetcode).
- Mostly discussion. A reply described it as "mostly a discussion round, not heavy coding": where generative AI helps in real products and where it doesn't, risks such as hallucinations and data privacy, and how you'd validate outputs. "High level understanding is enough, not deep model math."
- Your own AI use. In a May 2026 thread about an SDE I "AI Fluency and problem solving" round, replies said the interviewer asked how you use generative AI in your work, which tools you use, its pros and cons, and how much you depend on it (r/amazonsdeprep).
- Plus coding and Leadership Principles. The same replies mention a data structures question afterwards (one said graph, tree or grid problems) and one or two Leadership Principles questions. One candidate got a second coding question because they finished the first in 15 minutes.
These are a handful of posts with few upvotes. The round may vary by team and level.
How it differs from the AI coding OA
Amazon's online assessment can include a separate task where you fix bugs in a real app with an AI assistant. That task is scored by tests. The fluency round is a conversation about judgment. See Amazon's AI-assisted coding OA for the hands-on task.
Google also says its pilot round assesses "AI fluency", but there it means using Gemini on real code. See Google's code comprehension interview.
How to prepare
- Prepare two or three real stories about using AI at work or in a project: the task, the tool, what went wrong, how you caught it and what you changed. Amazon interviews are built around Leadership Principles, so tell them in the same situation, action, result shape.
- Know the limits. Be ready to explain hallucinations, outdated knowledge, leaking private data into prompts, cost and latency, and answers that change between runs.
- Know how you'd validate output. Tests, code review, comparing against a source of truth, evaluation sets, and a human check for anything risky.
- Have an opinion on when not to use AI, with an example.
- Keep your data structures practice going. Candidates report a coding question in the same round.
See also which companies allow AI in coding interviews.
Sources
- Amazon: SDE II Interview Prep (checked 1 November 2026, no mention of AI fluency)
- Amazon: Interviewing at Amazon (checked 1 November 2026, no mention of AI fluency)
- r/leetcode: Amazon SDE-I "GenAI Fluency" round (January 2026)
- r/amazonsdeprep: Amazon SDE-1 round 3 (AI Fluency and problem solving) (May 2026)