How do you handle multiclass classification (softmax vs one-vs-rest vs one-vs-one)?
Some models are multiclass out of the box; others need a wrapper to extend a binary classifier to K classes. What shows depth is knowing the three strategies and exactly when each one wins. Here is the answer.
Updated Sep 2026 · Grounded in real GenAI, LLM, and AI/ML engineering interview loops and written to a senior-engineer editorial bar.
Some models are multiclass out of the box; others need a wrapper to extend a binary classifier to K classes. What shows depth is knowing the three strategies and exactly when each one wins. Here is the answer.
Lead with where the obvious approach breaks, because that is the judgment they are screening for — most candidates jump straight to the happy path and lose the room.
Then walk the failure back through the pipeline in order, naming the one metric the customer's exec sponsor actually cares about before you propose the fix.
