xAIVerified interview challenge
Investigate a free-tier traffic spike
Find out what a sudden rise in requests and spend represents before imposing broad blocks.
Unlock with Full AccessThe challenge
Free-tier traffic and token spend jump overnight, alongside a surge in new accounts. A teammate wants to block the busiest IP addresses and require a CAPTCHA from every user, but the traffic has not yet been investigated.
Choose the first checks to run against traffic, spend, signup and request records. Explain which findings would point to abuse, legitimate demand or a product bug, so the response does not depend on the volume spike alone.
What you'll practise
Signal interpretation
Compare traffic, account and request evidence before classifying the surge.
Targeted responses
Avoid treating a high-volume source as proof of abuse without the supporting checks.
Explain which evidence you would inspect and what each result would change.