Guidance on AI Use for Medium Candidates
Medium was built on the belief that human ideas have the power to change how people think, for the better. That belief shapes how we hire.
We use AI tools ourselves, like to draft job descriptions, sharpen interview questions, and analyze hiring data, for example. But we’ve also thought carefully about where AI adds value and where it gets in the way of something important. These guidelines reflect that thinking.
Our approach
Medium’s operating principles start with Humans first. We put humans before AI, we value authentic perspectives, and we respect the time and attention of our community. We bring the same orientation to hiring. We want to understand how you think, what you care about, and how you approach problems. AI can support that process, but it shouldn’t substitute for it.
That said, we’re not asking you to pretend AI doesn’t exist. We use it, we build products for a world shaped by it, and we think thoughtfully about its role. We expect our candidates to do the same.
Stage-by-stage guidance
Application materials
You’re welcome to use AI to refine your resume or sharpen your cover letter, however for the application questions, we’d like to hear from you and you alone, without AI. Don’t overthink it! What we’re looking for is your genuine experience and perspective.
Take-home assignments
Unless the assignment explicitly invites AI use, please complete it independently. We’re trying to evaluate your individual thinking, problem-solving instincts, and depth of understanding. When in doubt, ask your recruiter!
Interview preparation
Use AI freely here. Research Medium, practice answering questions, stress-test your thinking, prepare thoughtful questions to ask us. Deepening your understanding before an interview — one of our core operating principles — is exactly the kind of preparation we appreciate.
Live interviews
Unless explicitly stated by your recruiter, interviewer, or in writing before the interview, no AI assistance please. Our interviewers want to engage with you, which means we want to experience your thinking, your unique instincts, and your curiosity.
What we’re really looking for
When we think about what makes someone successful at Medium, it maps closely to how we work:
- Humans first: You lead with genuine perspective and care about authentic voice — in your work and in how you engage with others.
- Deepen understanding: You approach problems with curiosity. You ask questions. You want to understand things at depth, not just get to an answer.
- Orient for impact: You’re thoughtful about where to direct energy, and strategic about when a tool genuinely improves your work (and when it doesn’t!).
- Ladder together: You’re transparent. You play it straight. We’re moving through this interview process together.
These are the qualities we’re looking for in the hiring process itself, not just in your work history.
A note on transparency
We’re sharing how we use AI in hiring because we think you deserve to know. We don’t use AI to make final hiring decisions (those will always be made by humans) and we don’t use any information you share with us to train models.
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We use AI on your application data for fraud detection purposes and analysis for reporting purposes. We do not share your personal information, and any data is anonymized.
If you have questions about any of this, ask your recruiter. We’d rather have the conversation than leave you guessing!
How does Medium use AI?
In our product
In our product, AI plays a supporting role, like helping readers find relevant content and reducing friction for writers, but it doesn’t create what you read on Medium. Our community does.
- Human-generated content first and always: Our feeds and discovery tools are designed to elevate human writers, never to replace them.
- AI to assist, not to create: Where AI appears in our product, it exists to serve the writing and the reader, but the creative work and thinking is human.
As a workforce
Internally, we support our team in developing AI fluency which can be summed up as understanding what these tools do well, what they don’t, and how to make that call in the moment.
- Fluency and AI readiness: We invest in helping our team work with AI effectively, through shared learning and experimentation.
- Encouragement, not mandate: We want people to develop their own informed point of view, and we want to meet them where we are as we learn together.
- Quality not quantity: AI is a tool and a means to an end, not the whole point. AI use in service of greater impact is the goal — AI slop (in all its forms) is not!
These guidelines reflect where we are today. As AI continues to evolve, we’ll update them. We welcome feedback!
