# How AI interviews work

Canonical page: https://www.questionpunk.com/support/ai-how-it-works

Understanding AI-driven conversational surveys.

Time: 10-30 minutes

Level: Intermediate

Audience: Researchers, Product managers

## Steps

### 1. Add an AI interview question

In the survey editor, click **+ Add** and choose **AI interview**. In the two-step setup, enter what you want to learn, then choose **Text chat** or **Voice** under **How should it be conducted?**.

### 2. Configure the AI interviewer

Set the AI interviewer name, personality description, and system prompt. You can customize the tone, depth, and follow-up behavior. Add example questions to guide the style.

### 3. Set the question mode

Choose how the AI decides when to stop asking follow-ups: **Fixed count** (set an exact number of follow-up questions), **AI decides** (the AI stops when it has enough depth, guided by min/max limits and your stopping criteria), or **Time-based** (interview runs for a set duration).

### 4. Choose a model

Select the AI model for the interview. New text AI interviews default to OpenAI GPT-5.4 Mini (fast, economical). You can also choose Claude Haiku 4.5, Sonnet 4.6 or 5 (balanced), Opus 4.6 through Opus 5 (deepest follow-ups), or 150+ models from OpenAI (GPT-5.6/5.5/5.4, o3/o4 series), Google (Gemini 3.7/3.6/3.5), xAI (Grok 4.6/4.5), Meta (Llama 4), Mistral, DeepSeek, Moonshot (Kimi K3), and 10+ other providers. Existing surveys keep their saved model. See [Choosing a model](https://www.questionpunk.com/support/ai-choosing-a-model) for trade-offs.

### 5. Pick a thinking speed

Set the **Thinking speed** for how follow-ups are generated. **Fast** (default) generates a single question in one step — the most responsive option. **Slow** generates five candidate follow-ups, grades each with personality-specific criteria, then picks the highest-ranked one — higher quality for important interviews, at the cost of latency. When you enable AI follow-ups on a text question, Fast thinking is used by default.

### 6. Add reference sources (optional)

Click **Reference Sources** to let the AI access answers from earlier questions during the interview. The AI can use these references to ask more contextual follow-ups. You can also add per-respondent context that feeds into the interview dynamically.

### 7. Monitor and review

After launch, review AI interview transcripts in the Results tab. Each conversation shows the full exchange between the AI and the respondent.

## Details

AI interviews dynamically adapt follow-ups based on participant answers. The system probes for clarity and depth to produce higher-quality qualitative data than traditional open-text fields.

The AI preserves context across conversation turns, so follow-up questions reference what the respondent has already said. This creates a natural, interview-like experience.

Three question modes control interview length: fixed count (exact number of follow-ups), AI decides (AI stops when it has enough depth, with configurable min/max and stopping guidance), and time-based (runs for a set duration).

**Thinking speed** controls how follow-ups are produced. **Fast thinking** (default) generates a single question in one step and is best when responsiveness matters. **Slow thinking** generates five candidate questions, grades each with personality-specific criteria, and picks the highest-ranked one — best for high-stakes interviews where question quality matters most.

AI interviews work across 140+ languages. The AI detects the respondent's language and adapts automatically, while maintaining the interview goals you defined.

**Reference sources** let the AI access answers from earlier questions in the survey, so follow-ups can build on what the respondent already shared in previous sections. Per-respondent context can also be injected dynamically.

All AI conversations are transparent: you can see the full system prompt, edit it, and review every exchange in the response data.

## Related articles

- [Choosing a model](https://www.questionpunk.com/support/ai-choosing-a-model.md)
- [Tips for prompts](https://www.questionpunk.com/support/ai-prompt-tips.md)
- [AI audio interviews](https://www.questionpunk.com/support/ai-audio-interviews.md)