Claiming "AI skills" in an interview without being able to back it up is worse than not mentioning it at all. Here's how to talk about it credibly.
Lead with the problem, not the tool
"I used LangChain" means nothing to a non-technical interviewer and sounds like keyword-stuffing to a technical one. "I built a chatbot that answered common admissions questions so the office didn't have to repeat themselves" is a story anyone can follow.
Be honest about the boundary of your knowledge
If you used a template or followed a tutorial, say so — and say what you changed or debugged yourself. Interviewers respect honesty about scope far more than an inflated claim that collapses under one follow-up question.
Prepare for "what would you do differently"
This is the question that separates people who understand what they built from people who assembled it. Have a real answer ready — even a small one.
Connect it to the role, not just the resume
If you're interviewing for a marketing role, talk about the AI content workflow you built, not the chatbot. Relevance beats impressiveness every time.