Top 25 Generative AI Interview Questions and In-Depth Answers (2025)

Q: What is Generative AI? How is it different from traditional discriminative models?

A: Generative AI involves models that can generate new content such as text, images, audio, or code. These

models learn the joint probability distribution of the data, which allows them to generate data points similar to

those in the training set. For example, a generative language model can write essays or stories.

Discriminative models, on the other hand, learn the boundaries between classes and are typically used for

tasks like classification. While discriminative models predict labels given data (P(y|x)), generative models try

to learn how the data itself is distributed (P(x)).

Q: Explain the architecture of a Transformer. Why is it well-suited for generative tasks?

A: Transformers are built on self-attention mechanisms and feed-forward layers. They do not use recurrence

like RNNs but instead process all tokens in a sequence simultaneously. Self-attention helps each token focus

on relevant parts of the input. Transformers are ideal for generative tasks because they scale well, support

long-range dependencies, and enable parallel training. Autoregressive transformers like GPT predict the next

token given previous ones, making them excellent for generative sequences.

Q: What are the key differences between GPT, BERT, and T5?

A: GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) is an autoregressive model that generates text left-to-right.

BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) is an autoencoder that is trained to

understand language by masking parts of input text and predicting them. It is mainly used for classification or

understanding tasks. T5 (Text-to-Text Transfer Transformer) reframes all NLP tasks into a text-to-text format,

supporting both understanding and generation. GPT excels at generation, BERT at understanding, and T5

bridges both.

Q: How does attention work in the Transformer architecture?

A: Attention allows the model to weigh the importance of different words when processing a sequence. In the

self-attention mechanism, the model compares each token with every other token in the sequence to

determine how much focus it should have on each one. This dynamic weighting helps the model understand

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contextual relationships better than fixed-window models like RNNs or CNNs.

Q: What is the role of positional encoding in transformers?

A: Transformers process tokens simultaneously without inherent sequence order. Positional encoding injects

information about token position using sine and cosine functions of different frequencies. This helps the

model understand the order and relative position of tokens, which is critical for meaning in natural language.

Q: What are the challenges in training LLMs at scale? How are they addressed?

A: Challenges include massive computational demands, long training times, memory bottlenecks, and

managing large datasets. Solutions include distributed training across multiple GPUs or TPUs,

mixed-precision training to reduce memory usage, and techniques like gradient checkpointing. Additionally,

training on high-quality curated datasets and using pretrained checkpoints helps reduce costs.

Q: How do models like GPT-4 prevent hallucination and factual inaccuracies?

A: GPT-4 and similar models use techniques like Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF) to

fine-tune the model toward more accurate and helpful responses. Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) is

also used, where external documents are retrieved at query time to guide the model, improving factual

correctness. Other safety layers involve prompt tuning and moderation filters.

Q: What is in-context learning? How is it different from fine-tuning?

A: In-context learning allows LLMs to learn tasks on the fly by seeing examples in the input prompt-without

updating model weights. Fine-tuning, however, involves training the model on labeled data to adjust internal

parameters. In-context learning is flexible and does not require retraining, making it ideal for prototyping or

dynamic tasks.

Q: Explain Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG). Why is it popular?

A: RAG combines language generation with a retrieval mechanism. Instead of relying solely on pre-trained

knowledge, the model retrieves relevant documents from an external database and then generates a

response based on that information. This approach increases factual accuracy, reduces hallucinations, and

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makes the model more adaptable to specific domains or current events.

Q: What are token limits in LLMs and how do you handle long documents?

A: Token limits define how much input and output the model can process at once. Large documents can

exceed these limits, causing truncation. Strategies like document chunking, sliding window approaches,

hierarchical modeling, or using memory-augmented models help manage long inputs.

Q: What techniques are used to reduce the cost of training large generative models?

A: Techniques include quantization (reducing numerical precision), distillation (training smaller models from

larger ones), pruning (removing redundant weights), and efficient transfer learning methods like LoRA

(Low-Rank Adaptation). These methods reduce memory, computation, and storage requirements.

Q: Compare LoRA, QLoRA, and PEFT. When would you use them?

A: LoRA adds trainable low-rank matrices to a frozen model, allowing efficient fine-tuning. QLoRA extends

this by applying quantization to further reduce memory. PEFT (Parameter-Efficient Fine-Tuning) includes

LoRA, adapters, and prompt tuning techniques. Use these when resources are limited or full fine-tuning is not

feasible.

Q: How does model quantization affect performance and accuracy?

A: Quantization reduces the number of bits used to represent model weights and activations, speeding up

inference and reducing memory usage. While aggressive quantization can harm accuracy, careful strategies

like mixed precision can retain most performance while improving efficiency.

Q: What are gradient checkpointing and mixed precision training?

A: Gradient checkpointing saves memory by selectively storing intermediate results during forward pass and

recomputing them during backpropagation. Mixed precision training uses a mix of 16-bit and 32-bit floating

points to speed up computation and reduce memory usage without significantly affecting model quality.

Q: How do diffusion models like DALL-E, Midjourney, or Stable Diffusion work?

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A: Diffusion models generate images by starting with noise and gradually refining it using a denoising process

learned during training. These models learn to reverse a diffusion (noise-adding) process. They're known for

generating high-quality and coherent images and are used in text-to-image applications.

Q: Explain the concept of denoising in diffusion models. Why is it critical?

A: Denoising is central to diffusion models-it involves learning how to reconstruct original data from noisy

inputs. During training, noise is added in steps; the model learns to remove this noise in reverse. This ability

is what enables the model to generate realistic outputs from pure noise.

Q: Compare GANs vs Diffusion Models for image generation. Pros and cons?

A: GANs generate data via a generator-discriminator game. They are fast at inference but hard to train and

prone to mode collapse. Diffusion models are stable, produce higher-quality results, but are computationally

expensive due to iterative denoising steps.

Q: What are few-shot, zero-shot, and chain-of-thought prompting?

A: Zero-shot prompting gives only task instructions. Few-shot includes examples to guide the model.

Chain-of-thought prompting adds intermediate reasoning steps to improve model reasoning and accuracy,

especially on complex tasks.

Q: How do you evaluate the quality of generated content from an LLM?

A: Automatic metrics like BLEU, ROUGE, METEOR measure similarity to reference texts. Perplexity

evaluates language model uncertainty. Human evaluations assess fluency, relevance, factuality, and

coherence for high-stakes applications.

Q: What is prompt injection and how do you mitigate it?

A: Prompt injection manipulates model behavior by inserting harmful or misleading instructions. It's a security

risk in LLM apps. Mitigation includes input validation, context filtering, sandboxing, and using content-aware

safety layers.

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Q: How do you deploy a generative AI model efficiently on the cloud or edge?

A: Use model compression (quantization, distillation), optimized frameworks (ONNX, TensorRT), and

hardware accelerators. Batch inference and caching reduce latency. Cloud providers like AWS, Azure, GCP

offer scalable deployment solutions.

Q: What are the ethical concerns in deploying generative AI models at scale?

A: Concerns include biases in outputs, misinformation, content moderation, data privacy, and job

displacement. Mitigation involves transparency, responsible data usage, fairness evaluation, and continuous

model monitoring.

Q: What mechanisms ensure safety, bias mitigation, and transparency in generative AI?

A: Use tools like fairness metrics, adversarial testing, interpretability methods (e.g., attention visualization),

and model cards. Establish ethical guidelines and involve diverse stakeholders in model design.

Q: How do you detect and prevent misuse of generative AI (e.g., deepfakes, misinformation)?

A: Implement watermarking in generated content, use detection classifiers, monitor usage patterns, and

enforce responsible usage policies through content moderation and platform controls.

Q: You're tasked with building a domain-specific chatbot using an LLM. How would you approach it

from scratch?

A: Start by understanding domain requirements, gathering curated data (FAQs, manuals), selecting an LLM

(e.g., GPT, T5), applying fine-tuning or RAG, evaluating with real users, deploying via APIs, and adding

guardrails for safety and feedback loops.

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