Definitions, differences, simple examples, basic workflow, and common mistakes.

A clear 90-second answer

Say this first: AI vs ML vs deep learning is a choice between approaches with different strengths. The useful answer is the decision rule, not a dictionary definition.

Use a real scenario

Imagine an internal support assistant that answers from approved policy documents. The team must decide how to apply AI vs ML vs deep learning, verify the result, and explain the user impact. For an AI Engineer, attach the explanation to an evaluation set and retrieval trace.

Show judgment

• name the concept, give one concrete use, and say how you would check the result.
• Choose the option that fits the workload and constraints; do not present one option as universally superior.
• Call out prompt injection and unsupported answers and the control that reduces it.

Evidence to mention

Track grounded-answer rate and p95 response time. Say what baseline you compared against, what would trigger a rollback or escalation, and who owns the follow-up.

Practice prompt: Keep the scope small. Do not claim production ownership you have not had.

A clear 90-second answer

Say this first: supervised vs unsupervised learning is a choice between approaches with different strengths. The useful answer is the decision rule, not a dictionary definition.

Use a real scenario

Imagine an internal support assistant that answers from approved policy documents. The team must decide how to apply supervised vs unsupervised learning, verify the result, and explain the user impact. For an AI Engineer, attach the explanation to an evaluation set and retrieval trace.

Show judgment

• name the concept, give one concrete use, and say how you would check the result.
• Choose the option that fits the workload and constraints; do not present one option as universally superior.
• Call out prompt injection and unsupported answers and the control that reduces it.

Evidence to mention

Track grounded-answer rate and p95 response time. Say what baseline you compared against, what would trigger a rollback or escalation, and who owns the follow-up.

Practice prompt: Keep the scope small. Do not claim production ownership you have not had.

A clear 90-second answer

Say this first: classification vs regression is a choice between approaches with different strengths. The useful answer is the decision rule, not a dictionary definition.

Use a real scenario

Imagine an internal support assistant that answers from approved policy documents. The team must decide how to apply classification vs regression, verify the result, and explain the user impact. For an AI Engineer, attach the explanation to an evaluation set and retrieval trace.

Show judgment

• name the concept, give one concrete use, and say how you would check the result.
• Choose the option that fits the workload and constraints; do not present one option as universally superior.
• Call out prompt injection and unsupported answers and the control that reduces it.

Evidence to mention

Track grounded-answer rate and p95 response time. Say what baseline you compared against, what would trigger a rollback or escalation, and who owns the follow-up.

Practice prompt: Keep the scope small. Do not claim production ownership you have not had.

A clear 90-second answer

Say this first: “overfitting and underfitting is the part of the system that helps us deliver the intended outcome safely and predictably. I would explain it using a small customer scenario, then show the check that proves it worked.”

Use a real scenario

Imagine an internal support assistant that answers from approved policy documents. The team must decide how to apply overfitting and underfitting, verify the result, and explain the user impact. For an AI Engineer, attach the explanation to an evaluation set and retrieval trace.

Show judgment

• name the concept, give one concrete use, and say how you would check the result.
• State the constraint that could change your decision, such as scale, data sensitivity, recovery target, or team ownership.
• Call out prompt injection and unsupported answers and the control that reduces it.

Evidence to mention

Track grounded-answer rate and p95 response time. Say what baseline you compared against, what would trigger a rollback or escalation, and who owns the follow-up.

Practice prompt: Keep the scope small. Do not claim production ownership you have not had.

A clear 90-second answer

Say this first: The important point about train validation test split is how an engineer recognizes the unsafe path early and prevents it from becoming customer impact.

Use a real scenario

Imagine an internal support assistant that answers from approved policy documents. The team must decide how to apply train validation test split, verify the result, and explain the user impact. For an AI Engineer, attach the explanation to an evaluation set and retrieval trace.

Show judgment

• name the concept, give one concrete use, and say how you would check the result.
• Start with containment and evidence. Changing several variables at once makes the incident harder to understand.
• Call out prompt injection and unsupported answers and the control that reduces it.

Concrete check

npm test -- --runInBand

Evidence to mention

Track grounded-answer rate and p95 response time. Say what baseline you compared against, what would trigger a rollback or escalation, and who owns the follow-up.

Practice prompt: Keep the scope small. Do not claim production ownership you have not had.

A clear 90-second answer

Say this first: Precision asks whether positive predictions were correct; recall asks whether the system found the positives it should find. The right balance depends on the cost of each error.

Use a real scenario

Imagine an internal support assistant that answers from approved policy documents. The team must decide how to apply precision recall F1 and ROC-AUC, verify the result, and explain the user impact. For an AI Engineer, attach the explanation to an evaluation set and retrieval trace.

Show judgment

• name the concept, give one concrete use, and say how you would check the result.
• State the constraint that could change your decision, such as scale, data sensitivity, recovery target, or team ownership.
• Call out prompt injection and unsupported answers and the control that reduces it.

Evidence to mention

Track grounded-answer rate and p95 response time. Say what baseline you compared against, what would trigger a rollback or escalation, and who owns the follow-up.

Practice prompt: Keep the scope small. Do not claim production ownership you have not had.

A clear 90-second answer

Say this first: feature engineering and embeddings is a choice between approaches with different strengths. The useful answer is the decision rule, not a dictionary definition.

Use a real scenario

Imagine an internal support assistant that answers from approved policy documents. The team must decide how to apply feature engineering and embeddings, verify the result, and explain the user impact. For an AI Engineer, attach the explanation to an evaluation set and retrieval trace.

Show judgment

• name the concept, give one concrete use, and say how you would check the result.
• Choose the option that fits the workload and constraints; do not present one option as universally superior.
• Call out prompt injection and unsupported answers and the control that reduces it.

Evidence to mention

Track grounded-answer rate and p95 response time. Say what baseline you compared against, what would trigger a rollback or escalation, and who owns the follow-up.

Practice prompt: Keep the scope small. Do not claim production ownership you have not had.

A clear 90-second answer

Say this first: tokenization and context window should be explained through its purpose, the boundary where it applies, and the evidence that shows it is working.

Use a real scenario

Imagine an internal support assistant that answers from approved policy documents. The team must decide how to apply tokenization and context window, verify the result, and explain the user impact. For an AI Engineer, attach the explanation to an evaluation set and retrieval trace.

Show judgment

• name the concept, give one concrete use, and say how you would check the result.
• State the constraint that could change your decision, such as scale, data sensitivity, recovery target, or team ownership.
• Call out prompt injection and unsupported answers and the control that reduces it.

Evidence to mention

Track grounded-answer rate and p95 response time. Say what baseline you compared against, what would trigger a rollback or escalation, and who owns the follow-up.

Practice prompt: Keep the scope small. Do not claim production ownership you have not had.

A clear 90-second answer

Say this first: “prompt engineering basics is the part of the system that helps us deliver the intended outcome safely and predictably. I would explain it using a small customer scenario, then show the check that proves it worked.”

Use a real scenario

Imagine an internal support assistant that answers from approved policy documents. The team must decide how to apply prompt engineering basics, verify the result, and explain the user impact. For an AI Engineer, attach the explanation to an evaluation set and retrieval trace.

Show judgment

• name the concept, give one concrete use, and say how you would check the result.
• State the constraint that could change your decision, such as scale, data sensitivity, recovery target, or team ownership.
• Call out prompt injection and unsupported answers and the control that reduces it.

Evidence to mention

Track grounded-answer rate and p95 response time. Say what baseline you compared against, what would trigger a rollback or escalation, and who owns the follow-up.

Practice prompt: Keep the scope small. Do not claim production ownership you have not had.

A clear 90-second answer

Say this first: The important point about RAG pipeline fundamentals is how an engineer recognizes the unsafe path early and prevents it from becoming customer impact.

Use a real scenario

Imagine an internal support assistant that answers from approved policy documents. The team must decide how to apply RAG pipeline fundamentals, verify the result, and explain the user impact. For an AI Engineer, attach the explanation to an evaluation set and retrieval trace.

Show judgment

• name the concept, give one concrete use, and say how you would check the result.
• Start with containment and evidence. Changing several variables at once makes the incident harder to understand.
• Call out prompt injection and unsupported answers and the control that reduces it.

Concrete check

SELECT COUNT(*) AS rows, MAX(loaded_at) AS freshest FROM <table>;

Evidence to mention

Track grounded-answer rate and p95 response time. Say what baseline you compared against, what would trigger a rollback or escalation, and who owns the follow-up.

Practice prompt: Keep the scope small. Do not claim production ownership you have not had.

A clear 90-second answer

Say this first: Chunking splits source material into retrieval units. The boundary and size affect whether a retrieved passage contains enough context to support an answer.

Use a real scenario

Imagine an internal support assistant that answers from approved policy documents. The team must decide how to apply chunking strategy, verify the result, and explain the user impact. For an AI Engineer, attach the explanation to an evaluation set and retrieval trace.

Show judgment

• name the concept, give one concrete use, and say how you would check the result.
• State the constraint that could change your decision, such as scale, data sensitivity, recovery target, or team ownership.
• Call out prompt injection and unsupported answers and the control that reduces it.

Evidence to mention

Track grounded-answer rate and p95 response time. Say what baseline you compared against, what would trigger a rollback or escalation, and who owns the follow-up.

request or change → guardrail / validation → chunking strategy → observable result → owner review

Practice prompt: Keep the scope small. Do not claim production ownership you have not had.

A clear 90-second answer

Say this first: vector database and similarity search is a choice between approaches with different strengths. The useful answer is the decision rule, not a dictionary definition.

Use a real scenario

Imagine an internal support assistant that answers from approved policy documents. The team must decide how to apply vector database and similarity search, verify the result, and explain the user impact. For an AI Engineer, attach the explanation to an evaluation set and retrieval trace.

Show judgment

• name the concept, give one concrete use, and say how you would check the result.
• Choose the option that fits the workload and constraints; do not present one option as universally superior.
• Call out prompt injection and unsupported answers and the control that reduces it.

Concrete check

SELECT COUNT(*) AS rows, MAX(loaded_at) AS freshest FROM <table>;

Evidence to mention

Track grounded-answer rate and p95 response time. Say what baseline you compared against, what would trigger a rollback or escalation, and who owns the follow-up.

Practice prompt: Keep the scope small. Do not claim production ownership you have not had.

A clear 90-second answer

Say this first: reranking and hybrid search should be explained through its purpose, the boundary where it applies, and the evidence that shows it is working.

Use a real scenario

Imagine an internal support assistant that answers from approved policy documents. The team must decide how to apply reranking and hybrid search, verify the result, and explain the user impact. For an AI Engineer, attach the explanation to an evaluation set and retrieval trace.

Show judgment

• name the concept, give one concrete use, and say how you would check the result.
• State the constraint that could change your decision, such as scale, data sensitivity, recovery target, or team ownership.
• Call out prompt injection and unsupported answers and the control that reduces it.

Evidence to mention

Track grounded-answer rate and p95 response time. Say what baseline you compared against, what would trigger a rollback or escalation, and who owns the follow-up.

Practice prompt: Keep the scope small. Do not claim production ownership you have not had.

A clear 90-second answer

Say this first: fine-tuning vs RAG is a choice between approaches with different strengths. The useful answer is the decision rule, not a dictionary definition.

Use a real scenario

Imagine an internal support assistant that answers from approved policy documents. The team must decide how to apply fine-tuning vs RAG, verify the result, and explain the user impact. For an AI Engineer, attach the explanation to an evaluation set and retrieval trace.

Show judgment

• name the concept, give one concrete use, and say how you would check the result.
• Choose the option that fits the workload and constraints; do not present one option as universally superior.
• Call out prompt injection and unsupported answers and the control that reduces it.

Evidence to mention

Track grounded-answer rate and p95 response time. Say what baseline you compared against, what would trigger a rollback or escalation, and who owns the follow-up.

Practice prompt: Keep the scope small. Do not claim production ownership you have not had.

A clear 90-second answer

Say this first: The important point about LLM hallucination control is how an engineer recognizes the unsafe path early and prevents it from becoming customer impact.

Use a real scenario

Imagine an internal support assistant that answers from approved policy documents. The team must decide how to apply LLM hallucination control, verify the result, and explain the user impact. For an AI Engineer, attach the explanation to an evaluation set and retrieval trace.

Show judgment

• name the concept, give one concrete use, and say how you would check the result.
• Start with containment and evidence. Changing several variables at once makes the incident harder to understand.
• Call out prompt injection and unsupported answers and the control that reduces it.

Evidence to mention

Track grounded-answer rate and p95 response time. Say what baseline you compared against, what would trigger a rollback or escalation, and who owns the follow-up.

Practice prompt: Keep the scope small. Do not claim production ownership you have not had.

A clear 90-second answer

Say this first: prompt injection defense should be explained through its purpose, the boundary where it applies, and the evidence that shows it is working.

Use a real scenario

Imagine an internal support assistant that answers from approved policy documents. The team must decide how to apply prompt injection defense, verify the result, and explain the user impact. For an AI Engineer, attach the explanation to an evaluation set and retrieval trace.

Show judgment

• name the concept, give one concrete use, and say how you would check the result.
• State the constraint that could change your decision, such as scale, data sensitivity, recovery target, or team ownership.
• Call out prompt injection and unsupported answers and the control that reduces it.

Evidence to mention

Track grounded-answer rate and p95 response time. Say what baseline you compared against, what would trigger a rollback or escalation, and who owns the follow-up.

Practice prompt: Keep the scope small. Do not claim production ownership you have not had.

A clear 90-second answer

Say this first: batching and inference latency is a choice between approaches with different strengths. The useful answer is the decision rule, not a dictionary definition.

Use a real scenario

Imagine an internal support assistant that answers from approved policy documents. The team must decide how to apply batching and inference latency, verify the result, and explain the user impact. For an AI Engineer, attach the explanation to an evaluation set and retrieval trace.

Show judgment

• name the concept, give one concrete use, and say how you would check the result.
• Choose the option that fits the workload and constraints; do not present one option as universally superior.
• Call out prompt injection and unsupported answers and the control that reduces it.

Evidence to mention

Track grounded-answer rate and p95 response time. Say what baseline you compared against, what would trigger a rollback or escalation, and who owns the follow-up.

Practice prompt: Keep the scope small. Do not claim production ownership you have not had.

A clear 90-second answer

Say this first: model API integration should be explained through its purpose, the boundary where it applies, and the evidence that shows it is working.

Use a real scenario

Imagine an internal support assistant that answers from approved policy documents. The team must decide how to apply model API integration, verify the result, and explain the user impact. For an AI Engineer, attach the explanation to an evaluation set and retrieval trace.

Show judgment

• name the concept, give one concrete use, and say how you would check the result.
• State the constraint that could change your decision, such as scale, data sensitivity, recovery target, or team ownership.
• Call out prompt injection and unsupported answers and the control that reduces it.

Evidence to mention

Track grounded-answer rate and p95 response time. Say what baseline you compared against, what would trigger a rollback or escalation, and who owns the follow-up.

request or change → guardrail / validation → model API integration → observable result → owner review

Practice prompt: Keep the scope small. Do not claim production ownership you have not had.

A clear 90-second answer

Say this first: “model evaluation framework is the part of the system that helps us deliver the intended outcome safely and predictably. I would explain it using a small customer scenario, then show the check that proves it worked.”

Use a real scenario

Imagine an internal support assistant that answers from approved policy documents. The team must decide how to apply model evaluation framework, verify the result, and explain the user impact. For an AI Engineer, attach the explanation to an evaluation set and retrieval trace.

Show judgment

• name the concept, give one concrete use, and say how you would check the result.
• State the constraint that could change your decision, such as scale, data sensitivity, recovery target, or team ownership.
• Call out prompt injection and unsupported answers and the control that reduces it.

Evidence to mention

Track grounded-answer rate and p95 response time. Say what baseline you compared against, what would trigger a rollback or escalation, and who owns the follow-up.

Practice prompt: Keep the scope small. Do not claim production ownership you have not had.

A clear 90-second answer

Say this first: The important point about A/B testing AI features is how an engineer recognizes the unsafe path early and prevents it from becoming customer impact.

Use a real scenario

Imagine an internal support assistant that answers from approved policy documents. The team must decide how to apply A/B testing AI features, verify the result, and explain the user impact. For an AI Engineer, attach the explanation to an evaluation set and retrieval trace.

Show judgment

• name the concept, give one concrete use, and say how you would check the result.
• Start with containment and evidence. Changing several variables at once makes the incident harder to understand.
• Call out prompt injection and unsupported answers and the control that reduces it.

Concrete check

npm test -- --runInBand

Evidence to mention

Track grounded-answer rate and p95 response time. Say what baseline you compared against, what would trigger a rollback or escalation, and who owns the follow-up.

Practice prompt: Keep the scope small. Do not claim production ownership you have not had.

A clear 90-second answer

Say this first: model monitoring and drift should be explained through its purpose, the boundary where it applies, and the evidence that shows it is working.

Use a real scenario

Imagine an internal support assistant that answers from approved policy documents. The team must decide how to apply model monitoring and drift, verify the result, and explain the user impact. For an AI Engineer, attach the explanation to an evaluation set and retrieval trace.

Show judgment

• name the concept, give one concrete use, and say how you would check the result.
• State the constraint that could change your decision, such as scale, data sensitivity, recovery target, or team ownership.
• Call out prompt injection and unsupported answers and the control that reduces it.

Evidence to mention

Track grounded-answer rate and p95 response time. Say what baseline you compared against, what would trigger a rollback or escalation, and who owns the follow-up.

Practice prompt: Keep the scope small. Do not claim production ownership you have not had.

A clear 90-second answer

Say this first: GPU serving cost optimization is a choice between approaches with different strengths. The useful answer is the decision rule, not a dictionary definition.

Use a real scenario

Imagine an internal support assistant that answers from approved policy documents. The team must decide how to apply GPU serving cost optimization, verify the result, and explain the user impact. For an AI Engineer, attach the explanation to an evaluation set and retrieval trace.

Show judgment

• name the concept, give one concrete use, and say how you would check the result.
• Choose the option that fits the workload and constraints; do not present one option as universally superior.
• Call out prompt injection and unsupported answers and the control that reduces it.

Evidence to mention

Track grounded-answer rate and p95 response time. Say what baseline you compared against, what would trigger a rollback or escalation, and who owns the follow-up.

Practice prompt: Keep the scope small. Do not claim production ownership you have not had.

A clear 90-second answer

Say this first: privacy and PII handling should be explained through its purpose, the boundary where it applies, and the evidence that shows it is working.

Use a real scenario

Imagine an internal support assistant that answers from approved policy documents. The team must decide how to apply privacy and PII handling, verify the result, and explain the user impact. For an AI Engineer, attach the explanation to an evaluation set and retrieval trace.

Show judgment

• name the concept, give one concrete use, and say how you would check the result.
• State the constraint that could change your decision, such as scale, data sensitivity, recovery target, or team ownership.
• Call out prompt injection and unsupported answers and the control that reduces it.

Evidence to mention

Track grounded-answer rate and p95 response time. Say what baseline you compared against, what would trigger a rollback or escalation, and who owns the follow-up.

Practice prompt: Keep the scope small. Do not claim production ownership you have not had.

A clear 90-second answer

Say this first: “responsible AI and bias is the part of the system that helps us deliver the intended outcome safely and predictably. I would explain it using a small customer scenario, then show the check that proves it worked.”

Use a real scenario

Imagine an internal support assistant that answers from approved policy documents. The team must decide how to apply responsible AI and bias, verify the result, and explain the user impact. For an AI Engineer, attach the explanation to an evaluation set and retrieval trace.

Show judgment

• name the concept, give one concrete use, and say how you would check the result.
• State the constraint that could change your decision, such as scale, data sensitivity, recovery target, or team ownership.
• Call out prompt injection and unsupported answers and the control that reduces it.

Evidence to mention

Track grounded-answer rate and p95 response time. Say what baseline you compared against, what would trigger a rollback or escalation, and who owns the follow-up.

Practice prompt: Keep the scope small. Do not claim production ownership you have not had.

A clear 90-second answer

Say this first: The important point about agent workflow orchestration is how an engineer recognizes the unsafe path early and prevents it from becoming customer impact.

Use a real scenario

Imagine an internal support assistant that answers from approved policy documents. The team must decide how to apply agent workflow orchestration, verify the result, and explain the user impact. For an AI Engineer, attach the explanation to an evaluation set and retrieval trace.

Show judgment

• name the concept, give one concrete use, and say how you would check the result.
• Start with containment and evidence. Changing several variables at once makes the incident harder to understand.
• Call out prompt injection and unsupported answers and the control that reduces it.

Evidence to mention

Track grounded-answer rate and p95 response time. Say what baseline you compared against, what would trigger a rollback or escalation, and who owns the follow-up.

Practice prompt: Keep the scope small. Do not claim production ownership you have not had.