---
title: "Run an AI-guided interview"
canonical_url: https://zentrik.ai/docs/product/run-ai-guided-interview
markdown_url: https://zentrik.ai/docs/product/run-ai-guided-interview.md
category: "Product guides"
learning_track: "discovery"
last_reviewed: 2026-09-21
---

# Run an AI-guided interview

Let Zentrik ask follow-up questions about a topic, image, or prototype. Review the plan before inviting participants.



## Prepare and publish

1. Create a study and choose **AI-guided interview**. Start in **Studies**, or from an idea or initiative’s **Studies** workspace.
2. Define the audience, learning question, and decision. Add the topics and any images or videos in **Steps**.
3. Review the generated interview plan, approximate duration, and missing inputs. Steps is the authored plan; the participant link opens the actual interview.
4. Preview the study. Resolve missing audience, decision, learning question, or required assets before publishing.
5. Published content is locked to keep responses comparable. When ready, publish and copy the participant link. Participant access must be configured for your workspace.

Most plans last two to fifteen minutes, depending on the topics. The interviewer works within your objective and topics. Use a [self-guided study](https://zentrik.ai/docs/product/create-self-guided-study) when you need fixed wording or answer choices.

For a clickable flow, follow [Test a prototype](https://zentrik.ai/docs/product/test-prototype).

![AI interview room with the interviewer presence above the current question, the earlier conversation behind it, and pause, skip, and finish controls under the answer field.](https://zentrik.ai/images/product-demos/studies/ai-guided-interview-flow-light.gif)

Participants can speak or type, skip a topic, and review their transcript before submitting.

## What participants do

Participants read the disclosure, then choose **Use microphone** or **Type instead**. They can interrupt, pause audio, mute, type, skip a topic, or finish early. Images or videos attached to a topic can appear during the conversation.

A prototype or shared image stays beside the conversation. On a phone, **Explore** and **Conversation** switch between them without losing prototype state or a draft answer. Reduced-motion preferences are respected.

Before submitting, participants review the transcript, return to the interview, or add a correction. Skipped topics remain marked as skipped. An optional closing rating stays separate from the interview answers.

## Review the response

Open **Responses** to inspect the transcript, topic coverage, and assets shown. A response is saved before its findings are prepared, so findings may appear shortly afterward.

Generate or refresh **Findings**, then check the cited participant turns or structured activity behind each claim. Findings remain a draft until your team reviews them. See [Review study findings](https://zentrik.ai/docs/product/review-study-findings).

## Troubleshooting

### A response has no findings yet

The response is saved first and its interview findings are prepared straight after. A response that arrives without findings usually has them a short time later, so reopen it before concluding that the interview produced nothing. When findings cannot be prepared at all, the response says so and the transcript and activity answers stay complete.

### The AI interviewer loses its connection

The participant's saved transcript remains safe. Use **Reconnect** to continue the same session, or choose **Finish early** to review and submit what was already captured. If the connection fails repeatedly, keep the study link and session details for the study owner so they can verify the study and service status before inviting more participants.

## Related guides

- [See an idea before you build it](https://zentrik.ai/docs/product/imagine-ideas)
- [Choose an idea status](https://zentrik.ai/docs/product/idea-statuses)
- [Organize findings with taxonomy and themes](https://zentrik.ai/docs/product/taxonomy-and-themes)