How AI Interview Assistants Work on Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams

Every Platform Is Different

Your interview could be on Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, WebEx, or even a custom platform. Each handles screen sharing, audio capture, and window management differently. If you are using an AI interview assistant, these differences matter — especially for screen share safety.

How AI Assistants Interact With Video Platforms

AI interview assistants need two things from your video call: audio input (to hear the interviewer's questions) and screen overlay space (to display suggestions). Here is how these work across platforms.

Audio Capture

There are two approaches to capturing interview audio:

System audio capture: Native desktop applications can capture all audio playing through your system — regardless of which application produces it. This means they hear the interviewer whether your call is on Zoom, Meet, Teams, or anything else. This is the approach Craqly uses.

Browser tab audio: Browser extensions can only capture audio from the specific browser tab they are running in. If your interview is on Zoom's desktop app, a browser extension hears nothing.

Screen Overlay

Native overlays: Desktop applications create OS-level overlays that sit on top of all windows. These overlays use a special rendering layer that screen capture APIs do not include — the same technology used by gaming overlays (Steam, Discord) and streaming tools (OBS).

Browser overlays: These are HTML elements within the browser. They are part of the browser window and are captured by any screen sharing.

Platform-by-Platform Breakdown

Zoom

Zoom is the most common interview platform and the easiest to work with for AI assistants.

Screen sharing behavior: When you share your screen in Zoom, it captures your desktop content through standard screen capture APIs. Native overlays (like Craqly's) are excluded from this capture. Browser extensions are included.

Audio: Zoom's desktop app outputs audio through your system speakers or headphones. Native AI tools capture this audio through system audio loopback. Works reliably.

Setup tip: If you share a specific application window instead of your entire screen, Zoom only captures that window. This is an extra layer of safety — even if an overlay somehow appeared, sharing only the IDE window would exclude it.

Google Meet

Google Meet runs entirely in the browser, which creates some unique considerations.

Screen sharing behavior: Meet uses the browser's screen capture API. You can share your entire screen, a specific window, or a browser tab. Native desktop overlays remain invisible in all three modes.

Audio: Since Meet runs in the browser, its audio comes through the browser tab. Native AI tools capture this via system audio (the browser outputs to system audio). Browser extensions can capture tab audio directly, but only if they are running in the same browser.

Setup tip: If your AI assistant is a native desktop app, everything works seamlessly. If it is a browser extension, make sure it is in the same Chrome profile as your Google Meet tab.

Microsoft Teams

Teams can be trickier because it exists in both desktop and browser versions, and each behaves differently.

Teams Desktop App: Uses its own screen capture implementation that is slightly more aggressive than Zoom's. Some basic overlay methods are captured. However, proper OS-level overlays (like Craqly's) remain invisible because they use the same exclusion API that prevents gaming overlays from appearing in screen shares.

Teams in Browser: Behaves similarly to Google Meet. Browser extensions are visible during screen shares; native desktop overlays are not.

Audio: Teams outputs audio through system audio. Native AI tools capture it reliably regardless of whether you use the desktop app or browser version.

Setup tip: Always test with Teams before the actual interview. Share your screen with a friend on a test call and verify the overlay is invisible. Teams updates can occasionally change screen capture behavior.

Screen Share Safety: The Complete Guide

Since screen share safety is the most critical concern, here is a summary:

Always safe (native desktop overlay like Craqly):

• Zoom — full screen share, window share, or portion share
• Google Meet — all sharing modes
• Teams Desktop — all sharing modes
• Teams Browser — all sharing modes
• WebEx — all sharing modes

Never safe (browser extensions):

• Any platform when sharing the browser window or full screen
• Some platforms even when sharing a different window (depending on the extension's z-order)

Best Practices Across All Platforms

Test before every interview. Do a test call with a friend. Share your screen. Verify the overlay is invisible. This takes 5 minutes and eliminates uncertainty.

Use headphones carefully. If you use headphones, the AI tool needs to capture system audio separately from your headphone output. Most native tools handle this, but verify during your test call.

Keep the overlay minimal. On smaller screens, a large overlay might interfere with your video call layout. Resize it to show just enough text to be useful without blocking important UI elements.

Download Craqly and run a test call on whichever platform your interview will use. Five minutes of testing eliminates all uncertainty about whether the setup works.