A live AI interview assistant listens to the interview as it happens and shows you an answer within about two seconds of the question, while the conversation is still going. That is the whole difference from practice tools, which score you after you have answered. Live help is useful in a narrow set of situations and is appropriate only where the employer allows it.
So this page covers three things in order: what live mode is and how a session runs, what it costs by plan, and the policy check to do before you rely on it.
Live mode in one sentence
Live mode is an assistant that hears the interviewer's question from your computer's audio, captions it, and puts a structured answer on your screen in about 2 seconds, without joining the call. It is a separate desktop window that listens to the computer's audio output for the interviewer and to your microphone for you, so it works the same with Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Webex, Amazon Chime and any app that plays audio through the computer. It is never a participant.
The pipeline behind that sentence, from audio capture to the rendered answer, is in how real-time interview assistants work.
Live help, mock interviews and question banks compared
| Live AI interview assistant | AI mock interview | Question bank | |
|---|---|---|---|
| When it works | During the real call | Before, in a simulated interview | Before, reading |
| What you get | Captions and a structured answer in about 2 seconds | Questions built from your resume, read aloud, each spoken answer scored out of 10 with a model answer | Lists of likely questions, sometimes sample answers |
| What it improves | The interview you are in | Your skill for every future interview | Your coverage of topics |
| Policy question | Yes: only where the employer allows it | No | No |
| On CoPilot Interview's free plan | 15 minutes a day | Included | Practice questions at /try |
The honest ranking for most candidates is mock interviews first, question banks for coverage, live help last and only where allowed. Real-time help vs feedback after the interview explains why the order matters.
How a live session actually runs
You open the assistant before the call and start listening. Live captions appear as the interviewer speaks; when the question ends, a structured answer follows in about 2 seconds, with shorter, longer and redo controls. Auto-answer is on by default; a new question is detected after a 20-second pause, and if nothing has been said for 10 minutes, listening stops until you press Ctrl+Shift+L.
Hotkeys cover the rest (Cmd on macOS): Ctrl+Shift+A asks for an answer on demand, Ctrl+Shift+Q adds a part the interviewer tacked on mid-answer, and Ctrl+Shift+C turns on Coding mode, which returns code with Big-O and edge cases. There are 11 global hotkeys in total.
Audio is streamed in short segments for transcription and is not stored on our servers; a text transcript is saved only in your Documents folder, and the transcribed text goes to the AI model you choose.
What live mode costs by plan
- Free, $0 forever: 15 minutes of live help every day in sessions of up to 15 minutes, free AI models (Mercury 2.5 by Inception is the default), AI mock interviews included, no credit card.
- Standard, $24.99 a month: 60-minute sessions, up to 100 minutes a day, no gap between sessions, Dual AI Mode and Focus Mode.
- Pro, $39.99 a month: 70-minute sessions, unlimited sessions with no gap, fast premium models including GPT-6 Luna, which also reads screenshots.
- Pro+, $49.99 a month: everything in Pro plus Claude Haiku 5.5 and Gemini 3 Flash.
- Hour packs: $9.99 buys 1 hour that never expires; $29.99 and $49.99 packs are listed on the pricing page with their hours.
Three-month plans are $59.99 for Standard and $99.99 for Pro. The first payment of a new subscription has a 14-day money-back guarantee if under 30 minutes of live session time has been used.
When live help is allowed: do the policy check first
Before any live use, find out the rule. Some employers state a position on AI assistance in the invitation or candidate guide; some ask for disclosure; some prohibit it, especially for assessments. Where nothing is written, ask the recruiter. In every case, follow your employer's rules, and when in doubt, keep the assistant to practice.
We keep a running list in companies that allow AI in interviews. Ghost Mode, which keeps the assistant window out of screen sharing and recordings, is a privacy setting for your own screen, not a substitute for permission.
Where CoPilot Interview fits
CoPilot Interview is a desktop AI interview assistant for Windows 10 and 11 and macOS 12 and later that bundles both halves: AI mock interviews for preparation and live captions with answers for interviews where that is allowed. The product page for the live half is at /live-interview-assistant.
Disclosure: CoPilot Interview is our product, so weigh what we say about it accordingly.
Frequently asked questions
What does live mean in a live AI interview assistant?
The assistant hears the question during the actual call and shows an answer while the conversation is still going, in CoPilot Interview's case in about 2 seconds. Practice tools score answers afterwards and do nothing during a real interview.
Does a live assistant join the meeting?
No. CoPilot Interview is a separate desktop window that listens to the computer's audio output and your microphone. It never joins the call and is not a participant, whether the call is on Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Webex or Amazon Chime.
How many live minutes do I get for free?
Fifteen minutes every day in sessions of up to 15 minutes, with no credit card and no expiry. Standard at $24.99 a month raises that to 60-minute sessions and up to 100 minutes a day; Pro at $39.99 has 70-minute sessions and unlimited sessions.
Is using a live AI interview assistant allowed?
It depends on the employer. Some permit AI assistance, some require disclosure and some prohibit it, especially in assessments. Check the invitation or ask the recruiter, and follow your employer's rules. Mock interviews and practice carry no such restriction.
Is the interview recorded or stored by the assistant?
Audio is streamed in short segments for transcription and is not stored on our servers. A text transcript is saved only in your Documents folder on your own computer, and the transcribed text is sent to the AI model you pick.
Practice first, then see live mode
Run a scored mock interview on the free plan, then try live captions where they are allowed.
Start a mock interview