Focus groups with AI agents

Steps

1. Open Focus Groups
   From Home, filter your studies by AI focus groups, or click the AI focus group tile under Start a study, to open the focus groups page. Click New Focus Group.
2. Step 1: Describe your research question
   In the Brief step, write what you want to find out. Click Draft the guide to have AI write discussion topics and probe questions for you (uses a small number of credits), or continue and write them yourself.
3. Step 2: Write a discussion guide
   In the Guide step, add up to 5 discussion topics. For each topic, write a main question and optional probe questions (up to 5 probes per topic). Set a round limit per topic to control discussion depth. Optionally attach a stimulus (title and content) to give all participants shared context for the discussion.
4. Step 3: Select participants
   In the People step, choose 2-6 AI personas to participate. Use existing personas from the AI Personas page or create new ones. To ground the discussion in real data, pick respondents marked Real answers: digital twins built from their answers to an earlier survey. Each participant is color-coded for easy identification in the transcript.
5. Step 4: Configure the session
   In the Review step, open Session settings to choose the AI model, set a moderator style (neutral, challenging, or empathetic), pick a group dynamic (natural, debate, or consensus), and set the maximum number of rounds (5-50).
6. Review the transcript and summary
   Watch the discussion unfold in a color-coded, real-time transcript with topic dividers. When the session completes, an AI-generated summary highlights key themes, points of agreement and disagreement, notable quotes, and per-participant analysis.