Kaia Gerber knows she benefits greatly from having a famous family ... but that doesn't mean she's any less critical of other nepo babies.

Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber's daughter got real about judging famous offspring in an interview with Vogue ... telling the magazine she knows she has nepo privilege -- but she also constantly looks at other people like her and demands they prove themselves.

Kaia says ... "I've only ever been a nepo baby, and I've only ever benefited in my career from it. But I also find myself doing it to other nepo babies, thinking, like, 'Okay, show me why you deserve this job.'"

She explains this recently came up on the set of "The Shards" -- Ryan Murphy's new series based on Bret Easton Ellis' book of the same name -- with her costar Homer Gere ... son of Richard Gere.

Homer is just getting into the film industry -- his first major role came in the final "Euphoria" season -- and Kaia says the nepo baby tag is still a lot for him to deal with ... so she told him people will judge him more because of who his father is.

However, she says she also encouraged him to use that as fuel to give his performance everything he's got.

Kaia also dished on a lifetime of "disordered eating" ... and encouraged people to speak more positively to someone going through an eating disorder -- because "Negativity has never saved someone's life.”

Bottom line ... if you're a nepo baby, Kaia is judging you!!!