How to Practise Spotting an AI's Wrong Answer Before Your Interview

By Pooja Goenka ยท 2026-10-11

Some technical interviews now show you an AI-written answer that sounds confident and contains one wrong line, then ask you to review it. To practise, read the answer line by line, name the rule each line depends on, and ask what would make it false. Then explain the fix in one sentence. You can drill this for free in the LogicWiz Arena game, or in the AI mock interview round that plants a mistake.

Why interviewers ask for it

Reviewing AI output is part of the job now. A smooth answer is easy to accept. The interviewer wants to see whether you check before you trust. Candidates who spot the error and explain why show judgement, and that is harder to fake than reciting a definition.

A method you can use

  1. Read it line by line. Do not skim the whole answer and decide it feels right.
  2. Name the rule behind each line. If you cannot say which rule a line depends on, you have found a place to look harder.
  3. Ask what would make it false. Think about one input or condition where the line breaks.
  4. Explain the fix in one sentence. If you catch the error but cannot say why it is wrong, you may have guessed.

Be careful with confident criticism of a correct line. In a real review that wastes time, and in some interview formats it counts against you.

Two worked examples

SQL. An answer says: "You can put an aggregate like COUNT(*) directly in a WHERE clause to filter groups." The rule: WHERE filters rows before grouping, so it cannot see aggregates. HAVING runs after grouping and is the right place.

Python. An answer says: "Default arguments like items=[] create a fresh list on every call." The rule: default values are evaluated once, when the function is defined. Calling the function twice can share the same list.

Both lines read fine at speed. They fail when you ask the question in step 3.

Where to practise for free

  • Arena. In "Spot Aria's Mistake", Aria answers a tech question with total confidence and one line is wrong. You tap the line you think is wrong, then pick why. It is five rounds, about 5 minutes, free, and works on your phone. There are Junior, Mid and Senior levels. The October Open runs until 19 Oct.
  • A mock interview. LogicWiz Interviews has a round with a confident answer and a planted mistake. The free plan includes 3 AI sessions a day with a free account, no card.

Try the Arena first for the habit, then the mock interview for the conversation.

You can start at interviews.logicwiz.ai.

If you are the one hiring, we wrote about how to test whether candidates can spot mistakes in AI answers.