Prepare for your OpenAI research interview

AI systems design, research methodology, and safety considerations for OpenAI research roles.

Socratify AI

The Interview

What OpenAI is looking for

AI Systems Interview

AI Systems Design

01Problem Formulation

02Model Architecture

03Scalability

04Deployment Considerations

Methodology Interview

Research Methodology

01Experimental Design

02Evaluation Framework

03Statistical Rigor

04Reproducibility

AI Safety Interview

AI Safety & Ethics

01Safety Thinking

02Ethical Reasoning

03Risk Assessment

04Mitigation Strategies

Frontier AI research focus//Safety and alignment emphasis//Cutting-edge capabilities work

Practice Library

OpenAI exercises

Ready to ace your OpenAI research interview?

Prepare for your OpenAI research interview

AI systems design, research methodology, and safety considerations for OpenAI research roles.

Socratify AI

The Interview

What OpenAI is looking for

AI Systems Interview

AI Systems Design

01Problem Formulation

02Model Architecture

03Scalability

04Deployment Considerations

Methodology Interview

Research Methodology

01Experimental Design

02Evaluation Framework

03Statistical Rigor

04Reproducibility

AI Safety Interview

AI Safety & Ethics

01Safety Thinking

02Ethical Reasoning

03Risk Assessment

04Mitigation Strategies

Frontier AI research focus//Safety and alignment emphasis//Cutting-edge capabilities work

How It Works

Master OpenAI Research Interviews

AI systems design, research rigor, and safety-conscious thinking for OpenAI roles. · Click to expand

1Your Grad School Goals

Research Methodology

Practitioner

Technical Problem Solving

Practitioner

2Grad School Case Prep

Design an evaluation methodology for assessing whether a language model actually...

LEARNHard

OpenAI

3Frameworks

Framework

Advisor capacity and mentorship constraints?

Students per advisor increasing?

Avg advisees per faculty: 7.2 (was 5.8 two years ago)

Meeting frequency: 2.1x/month (target 3x/month)

Research direction instability slowing progress?

Thesis direction changes: 1.8x per student (target: 1.0)

Months lost to re-scoping: avg 4.3 months per pivot (n=23)

Research infrastructure and resource bottlenecks?

Computational resource constraints?

GPU cluster wait time: avg 18 days (benchmark: 3 days)

Experiments delayed >1 month: 34% of runs

Data access and curation delays?

Custom dataset curation time: avg 2.1 months

Data governance reviews extending timeline by 6–12 weeks

Funding constraints affecting student support and recruitment?

Stipend or scholarship instability?

Students working outside research: 22% (benchmark: 8%)

Average time diverted: 8 hours/week outside core work

Candidate quality declining due to lower visibility?

PhD applicant pool size: -18% YoY

Accepted students choosing competitors: 32% (up from 18%)

4Feedback

Research Rigor

Distinctive

Problem Formulation

Strong

Technical Depth

Meeting Bar

Communication Clarity

Strong

Repeat

Practice Library

OpenAI exercises

Design an evaluation methodology for assessing whether a language model understands...

LEARNHard

AI Research · Evaluation DesignOpenAI

Propose a system to scale reinforcement learning training to 100x current capabilities...

LEARNHard

AI Research · Systems DesignOpenAI

What are the key safety considerations when scaling large language models? How would you...

BEHAVIORALHard

AI Safety · Safety ThinkingOpenAI

Tell me about research you've done where safety or ethics were primary considerations.

BEHAVIORALMedium

Behavioral · ExperienceOpenAI

Design an experiment to test if a model learned a specific concept versus memorizing...

LEARNHard

AI Research · Experimental DesignOpenAI