Of course you can, from the effect you see it have on others. Not everyone needs to do hard drugs to say they are bad for example.
I was arguing that this is a bad question elsewhere but you provided another reason. If a candidate tells you they haven't tried using AI (without saying why), that offers no signal at how well they'll do if you hire them, and you construe it as a negative signal. If you want to know if they would be willing to use AI as part of the job ask that question instead!
> You can't make a solid opinion on things you never try after all.
What do you think about using heroin?
And if they can make an argument about why they're more effective without AI, more power to them. So if I were to ask the question directly as you suggest, it would be: Are you more effective than the other person I'm interviewing? - which i guess is the whole point of the interview.
> Heroin Fair point, but I also don't think that trying AI is anywhere close to the level of trying Heroin
In this case though, I'll admit that it would be a negative signal if they never tried it even once and refuse to do so. You can't make a solid opinion on things you never try after all. It would be different if they at least gave it a shot and disliked it.