Two years ago, this question almost never came up. Today, it shows up in nearly every Sales, Tech, and AI interview: "What's your use of AI today?" A short question, but one that filters faster than most candidates realize.
Why this question has become standard
Because the answer says a lot about a candidate's ability to work faster and better, on almost any role. A salesperson who automates prospecting frees up time to sell. An engineer who knows how to ship a model to production delivers faster than one who only "knows about AI" in theory.
The trap: answering "I use ChatGPT"
It's the most common answer, and the most disappointing for whoever asks. Saying "I use ChatGPT to write my emails" or "I ask Claude questions" describes a consumer-level habit, not a differentiating professional skill. Nearly every candidate in 2026 is already there. It's no longer what sets you apart.
What's really expected: workflows, automation, connecting tools
What recruiters and managers are actually listening for is a deeper level of use: has the candidate built a workflow, connected tools to each other, automated a recurring task, or used an API to make two systems that didn't talk to each other before, talk?
On the Sales side: a prospecting sequence that automatically enriches a lead via a data API (Kaspr, Clearbit...), generates a personalized message, and pushes it into a sequencing tool with no manual re-entry.
On Customer Success or RevOps: automatic churn-risk scoring built from product usage signals connected to a CRM.
On Tech / AI Engineer: having shipped a model or a RAG pipeline to production, with real monitoring (latency, inference cost, response drift), not just a notebook prototype.
A candidate able to describe one precise workflow, even a simple one, stands out immediately from one who can only talk about conversational use.
How to prepare your answer
Before the interview, identify one repetitive task in your job that you've automated or sped up using AI, even modestly. Prepare it as a short story: the initial problem, the tool or connection used, the concrete result. That precision, not a claim of being "up to date on AI," is what makes the difference in an interview.