Run a short AI interview inside a survey

An AI interview is an element of a survey that holds a short conversation. You give it one topic and, if you like, one sentence of what happened. Each respondent is then asked three to six questions, one at a time, each written from what they just said. At the end they read a summary of their answers and decide whether it is kept.

Before you start

• A plan with AI interviews (Business or Enterprise), switched on for the workspace.
• AI switched on for the workspace, under Settings → General → Ask Polzy and AI.
• A topic worth a conversation: why a score moved, why someone left, what they were trying to get done, what would bring them back.

Add an AI interview

1. Open the survey in the builder and choose Add.
2. Under Advanced, choose AI interview.
3. Write the title the respondent reads, such as "A few questions about your week".
4. Under What the AI explores, write the topic — "Why the score moved since last quarter". The respondent never sees it.
5. If you like, add Context: one sentence of what happened, such as "We changed how teams plan their week in September". The respondent never sees it either.
6. Under Most questions it asks, choose 3, 4, 5 or 6, then save the survey.

An AI interview is never required and is never scored: a respondent can always skip it.

What the AI explores

One topic, never shown to the respondent: the title above is what they read.

Context (optional)We changed how teams plan their week in September.

Most questions it asks

3456

AI interview · optional

Here is a summary of what you said. Keep it as your answer, or discard it.

Evenings are short-staffed since the new rota, and the handover notes are often missing. I would rather keep a fixed team with a written handover.

Only this summary is kept. The questions and your answers above are deleted either way.

Keep this summaryDiscard

What the respondent sees

• Marked as AI. "AI interview · optional" sits under the title, and nothing starts until they press Start the interview.
• One question at a time. Each is written from their last answer, and says how many may follow. The AI may finish early once the topic is covered, but never before the second answer.
• A summary to approve. At the end they read a short summary of what they said, written as their own words in the first person ("I'd like…"), with no names, places or details that point at them, and choose Keep this summary or Discard.
• Discard means nothing. A discarded interview keeps nothing at all, and they can start again or carry on with the survey.
• No Submit to skip it by mistake. While the interview is on screen and not settled — not started, under way, or its summary waiting — the page shows neither Next nor Submit survey. They appear once the respondent keeps or discards the summary, or when the interview cannot run. Previous stays. An optional interview not started also offers Skip the interview, which moves on as Next would; a required one has no skip, and once started the respondent keeps or discards the summary.

In the builder's preview the interview does not run. Open the published survey to try it.

What is kept

• Only the approved summary. The questions and the respondent's answers are deleted as soon as they keep or discard the summary, in every survey, anonymous or not.
• Nothing they did not approve. An interview left without a decision is deleted when the response is submitted, and an unfinished response goes with your workspace's retention period.
• A comment like any other. The kept summary is the answer: it appears in the response, on the Comments page and in the AI reading of the response.

When the interview stops

• A safety concern. If an answer mentions harming oneself or someone else, no AI reads it or anything after it. The respondent sees where to get help, and is offered their own words to keep or discard instead of a summary.
• AI is unavailable. The plan does not include AI interviews, the workspace has AI switched off, or the organization is out of AI credits. The respondent is told and carries on with the survey.
• The limit is reached. One response makes at most 14 AI calls across its interviews, so starting over again and again cannot spend your credits.

What the interviews add up to

On the survey's Results, open the AI interview's card and choose Synthesise. Polzy reads the kept summaries and writes the themes people raised, with how many raised each, and up to five recommended actions, each with its effort and its impact.

The synthesis appears only once as many people have kept a summary as your workspace's reporting floor (anonymity and reporting), so no theme can point at one person. Only Admins can run it.

Start from a template or Ask Polzy

The survey templates include an AI interview for each kind of programme: why the score moved, why you left, jobs to be done and what would bring you back. You can also ask Ask Polzy to "add an AI interview about why customers cancel". From a theme on the overview, a heatmap cell or an Insights finding, Dig into this → Ask why in an AI interview drafts a short survey to that group whose "why" is an AI interview.

AI credits

Every question, every summary and every synthesis is one AI call on the organization's credits, the same credits as dynamic follow-ups. A four-question interview is about five calls per respondent. See usage and limits.