Candidate Guidelines for AI Usage

At Instacart, we see AI as a force multiplier. It accelerates how we build, how we operate, and how teams across the company deliver impact. Today, nearly 80% of our new code is AI‑assisted, and our internal assistant Ava helps 95% of employees work faster and smarter. Becoming an AI‑first company has fundamentally transformed how we operate — and it also shapes how we approach our hiring process.
We want you to feel supported in using AI as a tool when it makes sense, while still giving us an authentic view into your skills, judgment, and thought process.

Guidelines for Using AI in Instacart’s Hiring Process

Our hiring process is designed to understand how you think, solve problems, and communicate. To help us get to know the real you, we ask that you follow these principles:

Use AI as a helper, not a substitute. It’s fine to use AI to brainstorm, refine, or stress‑test your thinking — but your application and interview responses should reflect your own experience, judgment, and ideas.
Be yourself. We want to hear your perspective, not polished or generic AI‑generated content. Your unique voice and lived experience matter most.
Be transparent. If AI played a role in shaping your work, be prepared to explain how you used it to improve your output, how you managed AI-generated inputs and addressed hallucinations or inaccuracies, and any creative ways you leveraged AI as a force multiplier.
Follow role‑specific guidance. If a stage of the process has specific rules or limitations around AI usage, we’ll always make that clear upfront.

Stage	Appropriate Use	Not Allowed
When Applying (Resume & Application)	✅ Using AI to better articulate your skills and experience Example: Prompt: “Help me revise this bullet point in my resume to better show measurable results”	❌ Using AI to create experiences or achievements that have not happened
For Virtual / Takehome Assessments	✅ Asking AI to help you organize your thoughts or proofread text Example: Prompt: “Review this paragraph for clarity and give me feedback on my reasoning”	❌ Having AI to complete your task or generate your code/deliverables
Preparing for Interviews	✅ Using AI to research Instacart or practice interviewing Example: Prompt: “How does Instacart differentiate itself from other competitors in the delivery space?”	❌ Copying AI-written responses or using AI scripts in interviews
During Live Interviews	No use of AI is permitted in live interviews, unless it is explicitly requested as part of a skills presentation. For example, in the Senior Software Engineer interview process, we allow and encourage AI use specifically in the Karat Next Gen interview only. We want to hear your reasoning as you work through the discussion, which allows us to understand how you evaluate information, make decisions, and approach business problems in the moment.	❌ Using AI to answer a question during the live interview, unless it is explicitly requested by the interviewer

If you have any questions about AI usage at any point in the hiring process, please ask your recruiter. They will help clarify expectations so you can feel fully prepared.

Why Do We Have These Guidelines?

We believe AI can be a powerful tool to spark ideas and support great work but we also care deeply about authenticity, fairness, and protecting candidate data. Our goal is simple: to understand the real people behind the applications. Thoughtful use of AI can support that — but it should never replace your own thinking.