How do you answer "What's your take on AI?" in interviews?

Recruiters keep asking me this lately, mostly at the screening stage. I'm never sure what they want to hear. Are they checking whether I use AI tools day to day, whether I'm excited about the space, or whether I can talk about the risks too?

I'm a backend engineer and I use AI coding tools at work, but I don't want to sound like I'm just repeating hype or like I'm against it. How do you answer this? Does it change if the company is an AI company?

Recruiters ask this to calibrate two things: whether you're an AI-native builder who ships faster with these tools, and whether you can think critically about where the tech actually breaks. The frame that works: name one concrete workflow where AI coding tools measurably changed your output — e.g. "boilerplate and test scaffolding that used to take half a day now takes an hour, and I redirect that time to design reviews" — then add one sharp caveat from real experience, like "I still don't trust it with concurrency or security-sensitive code paths." That lands you as pragmatic rather than hype-driven. And tailor it: at an AI company, go deeper on evals and limitations to show you understand the product surface; at a non-AI company, emphasize productivity ROI and guardrails.

“AI will replace you recruiters and connect me directly with the hiring managers” :D